


Heartbeat Song

by szm



Category: Captain America (Movies), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Work In Progress, vague discussion of canon abuse (Winter Soldier backstory)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-03-29 22:39:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3913285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/szm/pseuds/szm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written because Foggy and Bucky are my favourites and I wanted them to hang out. </p>
<p>It's been a long night for Foggy, full of worry, work, and woe. Its only getting longer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Foggy squeezed his eyes shut against the headache forming. It was nearly 2am, and he was trying to do too much work by the light of his laptop to avoid using more electricity than they could afford. Two people's work to be honest, but it’s not like he could be mad at Matt for being out looking for missing kids. And if he found Mrs Bloomfields two children and got them safely away from the scumbags who had kidnapped them then the accountant would be free to testify against her former employers and those bastards would be locked up and the work that Foggy was doing now would just be the cherry on the top of the 20 to life sentence. 

The sick feeling in Foggy’s stomach when he thought about Matt in danger (or what Matt might find, or what Matt might _do_ when he found it, and really how long can Matt keep throwing himself at this stuff without getting broken in one way or another) has nothing to do with it, and isn't helpful. God, Foggy hopes those kids come out of this okay, wishes that he hadn't talked to Mrs Bloomfields in the first place, but then Alaidine Industries would get away with knowingly letting their toxic chemicals into the drinking water supply of a residential block (causing several elderly residents and children to get sick. It was a miracle no one had died). He scrubbed a hand over his face, none of this is what he needs to think about right now. He can spend another hour on this, then go home, shower, crash for a couple of hours, come back in and catch up with Matt and hope that they can get everyone out of this mess safe. 

It was nearly 4am when Foggy finally left the office and he was exhausted from work and worry. It was perhaps not his fault that he didn't notice the burly man following him at a discreet distance on the otherwise deserted street. Foggy pulled his phone out to ring Karen, as he expected he got her voice mail.

“Hey Karen, just leaving the office,” he said tiredly to the machine. “I know I said I wouldn't stay this late, well early, but I think I might have something. If you get to the office in the morning before me could you try to get me another meeting with Cooper? I found something in the paperwork I don’t understand and I think he might know what’s going on there. Right, home, bed. See you tomorrow. Or later today, whatever. You’re the best.” 

As Foggy hung up the phone was knocked out of his hand and he heard the crunch of plastic as it hit the floor and he was pushed into an alley by man who’d been following him. There was a wall and a dumpster in front of him as he turned two larger, casually angry looking men melted out of the shadows behind his attacker. Foggy felt his blood actually run cold. These were some serious looking gentlemen, if you were using ‘gentlemen’ in a totally sarcastic way of course. 

“So I should imagine you work for Alaidine Industries then?” said Foggy letting his mouth run on as his brain desperately tried to figure a way out. Maybe The Daredevil would even hear him. “I should let you know that you are welcome to drop in to our offices anytime during office hours. Generally 9 til 5. We’re traditional like that. I’d give you my phone number but I seem to have misplaced my phone. Perhaps you could give me yours and I’ll get my secretary to call your secretary (Shit! Shouldn't have mentioned Karen, keep talking cover it up) and we can arrange a meeting, over lunch perhaps? The new deli just round the corner from here is really…”

The guy closest took a step forward grabbing the front of Foggy’s shirt, cutting his babbling off and pulling him into the fist headed for his face. Foggy’s left eye exploded in pain, the guy hit him again, letting him go so he stumbled backwards. “You talk too much,” said his attacker. “And you mess in stuff that’s none of your business.” 

“Sounds like me,” said Foggy weakly. “Character flaw I gu…”

“Shut up,” said the guy hitting Foggy in the stomach. Foggy doubled over and fell to the floor. There was a lump of wood, a chair leg or something, on the floor beside him he scrambled for it and swung it in the direction of his attacker who… wasn't there.

He was passed out a little further away, Foggy struggled to his feet. The other two men were fighting with a newcomer. Dressed in black, long sleeves, long hair, and combat boots. He hit one of the man with his left arm, and even though it was obvious that he pulled the punch – even to Foggy – his opponent went down like a sack of potatoes. The other man saw this and took off into the main street. Then the scary black clad… vigilante? Hero? Crazy person? Was heading back towards Foggy, Foggy took an unconscious step back. The man in black (part of Foggy’s brain giggles at that, because this is certainly not Matt) stopped and held his gloved hands out as if calming a child or a spooked horse and suddenly Foggy is more angry than scared and still more tired than both. 

“You okay?” the man asked gently. “You've got a nasty cut above your eye, probably bruised ribs. You wanna go to a hospital?”

The man had a New York accent, (but more Brooklyn than Hells Kitchen) and a stupid black scarf tied across the bottom of his face. “No,” said Foggy pulling himself up straight, wincing slightly as the soft tissue in his side complained. “I need to go home and get some sleep.”

“Right,” said the man looking weirdly uncomfortable. “You… you got someone you can call, or...?” he trailed off.

“You’re not good at this are you?” asked Foggy, unsure of why but feeling a bit sorry for the guy.

“Outta practice,” mumbled the man and suddenly he just looked so terribly _lost_ and it tugged at Foggy’s heartstrings.

This was a bad idea, hell it was probably the worst idea he’d ever had and _that_ was a statement, but as usual Foggy’s mouth ploughed ahead without much input from his brain. “Listen I got first aid stuff at home. You wanna come with me and make sure I use it, fine. But I am going home now. It is so long past my bedtime it’s not even funny.”

Foggy started walking past the man, there was just silence as Foggy walked out of the alleyway. His pride made him get out into the street proper and therefore out of the man’s eye line before he lent heavily against a wall to catch his breath.

“Need some help walking?” asked a newly familiar accent behind him. 

“Not from you,” said Foggy grumpily. “Gonna get you a damn bell.” The man just chuckled as Foggy started walking again, the man keeping pace with him. “Do you have a name?” he asked for something to say feeling uncomfortable with the killer shadow.

“Меня зовут Джеймс” said the man in (what sounded to Foggy) perfectly accented Russian. 

Foggy stopped and turned to the man, heartbeat speeding up a little remembering what Matt had told him (tried _not_ to tell him) about the Russians. “Are you Russian?” he asked trying not to look scared but knowing that he probably did.

The man looked confused for a second then shook his head, pulling the scarf off his face. “No, not… not originally. I don’t think I've even been there for a while. I… My name is James. I meant to say. James Barnes.”

Foggy stood there eyes wide for a long second then suddenly decided he was too tired to second guess himself, he (completely crazily) kinda liked this guy, and if he wanted to kill Foggy he probably would have done it already.

“Nice to meet you Jamie,” he said holding out his hand. James shook it carefully, like it would break, or no… more like he was scared _he_ would break it.

“I could probably use a little help with the walking thing actually,” admitted Foggy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just a minor head injury, why would anyone go to hospital just for that?

They stumbled through the apartment door and James pulled Foggy over to the tiny kitchenette and propped him up on the chair. Foggy may have groaned a little, turned out getting beat up hurts more once you've half walked, half stumbled the adrenalin off.

“First aid kit?” asked James softly.

“Under the sink,” Foggy replied turning to look at his sink which was full of the dishes he hadn't had time to do yet. “Excuse the mess, I'm a slob.”

“I've seen worse,” said James with a shrug turning his back on Foggy and moving, well leaning, towards the sink and pulling the door open. “Wow, you weren't kidding. That is a first aid kit.”

“I’m well prepared,” said Foggy, fighting to keep his eyes open.

“No shit,” replied James grabbing the items he needed quickly and efficiently. “Better than some hospitals I've seen.”

“I have accident prone friends,” mumbled Foggy. Then there was a cool gloved hand cupping his face. The grip was strangely hard, like metal.

“Hey! Stay with me for a bit yet,” said James. “Come on, those are pretty eyes, keep ‘em open for me yeah? Accident prone friends? I can relate to that I think. If I’m remembering some stuff right.”

“S’not pretty,” argued Foggy. “S’brown. Like mud.”

James smiled and it was nice. It wasn't a patented Matt Murdock smile. But it was nice. “Whattda you know?” he asked. “You've got a head injury. This is going to sting a bit.” He dabbed at the cut above Foggy’s eye with a cotton swab soaked in something that smelled awful. Foggy winced and tried to pull away but the hand on his chin held him firm. “Probably don’t need stitches for this actually. Lucky you.”

Foggy just snorted at that. “Wish I’d brought a lottery ticket,” he said, forcing himself to keep talking to stop himself from falling asleep while he sat there. His eyes kept sliding shut even now. 

**

When he woke he was in bed, he winced when he tried to move. He hurt everywhere, but his head and his left side were shouting about it loudest. He remembered… being ambushed and then saved, then bringing a strange masked man home (someone other than Matt) he was pretty sure his mother had warned him about things like that. But then his mother had also wanted him to be a butcher. Really Foggy should listen to the woman at least once in his life. He lay still for a minute just gathering the strength to get up and find painkillers, then he realised he could hear lowered voices coming from the living area on the other side of the door. He levered his battered body into a sitting position. That was when he noticed some complete angel had left painkillers and a glass of water. He took two without really even looking to see what they were. Something else his mother would berate him for. 

He managed to drag himself to the door, Matt and his masked saviour (without the scarf-slash-mask) were looking at him guiltily as the door opened. “Hope you kids are playing nice,” said Foggy, his voice sounding rough even to him (god only knew what Matt could hear in it).

“Just getting to know your new ‘friend’,” said Matt brightly but with that stress on the word friend that meant he and Jamie had not hit it off.

“Matt, meet Jamie, the guy who saved my life. Jamie this is Matt, my best friend and law partner,” said Foggy stumbling to his couch. He saw Matt twitch like he wanted to help but couldn't because they had company and Matt was playing ‘standard blind guy’. It sort of stung now that Foggy could see how a bad an act it really was (had always been really, and why was Foggy so stupid?). Jamie also moved slightly to help but stopped with a weird little glance at Matt. Foggy frowned, how bad had that first impression gone anyway?

“Jamie?” asked Matt. Feeling for the couch like he didn't know exactly where it was and sitting next to Foggy. 

“Hey,” said Foggy with a shrug. “Guy saves my life I am allowed to give him a nickname. Those are the rules.”

“I don’t think they wanted to kill you,” said Jamie. “Just scare you.”

“Well thank you anyway,” said Foggy tipping his head back to smile at Jamie. Then he frowned as a thought occurred to him. “How did I end up in sweatpants?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” asked Jamie moving in front of Foggy and crouching down to look him the eye.

“You were cleaning up the cut above my eye,” said Foggy. “Then it gets a bit fuzzy…”

“You had a head injury,” interrupted Matt. He sounded shocked but Foggy knew he must have just been waiting for an excuse to ‘know’ that little fact so he could bitch about it. “You should have gone to hospital Foggy…”

Jamie snorted. “He wouldn't go, stubborn punk… I helped you get changed, you were dead on your feet. Your name’s Foggy?”

“Oh god,” groaned Foggy. “You saved me and I didn't even tell you my name? I suck. It’s Franklin actually, so I go by Foggy. You didn't sleep on the most uncomfortable couch in the world, did you?”

Jamie smiled again. “Nah, I don’t really sleep much, nightmares are a bitch. Just wanted to make sure those assholes didn't come looking for you.” He glanced over at Matt. “Still you’re not alone now. I should get going…”

Matt stood before Foggy could say anything, holding his hand out in Jamie’s general direction. “Well, thank you for your help Mr Barnes…”

Jamie looked at the hand and then stood moving slightly to the left so he could shake it. “Mr Murdock,” he looked back at Foggy. “You might want to be a bit more careful about who you piss off, Foggy.” His eyes sparkled a bit with something that made Foggy smile. “Not that I think you will be, you remind me of an old friend of mine.”

Foggy could practically feel Matt bristle as Jamie left. Probably listening as the other man’s footsteps and heartbeat faded into the distance. He sat down next to Foggy. “Foggy…” he started.

“You of all people don’t get to lecture me for getting beat up and not going to the hospital,” said Foggy firmly.

“I was going to say ‘I’m sorry’,” said Matt with the self-deprecatory half smile that Foggy hated. “I should have…”

“What Matt?” asked Foggy. “Stopped looking for the kids so you could babysit me? Did you find them?”

“Yes,” said Matt softly.

Foggy let out a breath he hadn't realised he’d been holding in. 

“I…” Matt shook his head like he was trying to clear a thought. “I want to say it’s not worth you getting hurt…”

 _’Now you know how I feel every time you put on that damn mask and go out into god knows what’_ Foggy thinks but manages not to say. “I found this case Murdock,” he says instead. “This one was on me. And honestly can you say you’re not just as hurt as me right now? You’re just better at hiding it.” And Foggy doesn't mean that to sound bitter, he really doesn't, but Matt flinches anyway and Foggy feels terrible. 

“Come on Murdock,” said Foggy. “You are going to help me into the office and we are going to make sure that the case against these bastards is watertight.”

“You should stay here,” disagreed Matt. “Or better yet go to hospital.”

Foggy was going to argue, he really was, but then he shifted to move and the pain lanced through his torso. “Could maybe stay here,” he agreed. “If you bring me my laptop you could skype me from the office?”

“Good idea,” said Matt. “Then I’ll know if anyone comes looking for you. Alaidine goons, or your new pal ‘Jamie’.”

“If he wanted to hurt me Matt he would have,” argued Foggy.

“He was hiding something Foggy,” said Matt getting up to get the laptop. “I just don’t know what yet. And his arm was strange…”

“His arm?” asked Foggy, remembering the oddly firm grip on his face and the way his attacker had gone down with just one punch.

“Yeah,” said Matt coming back with the laptop. “I could hear motors whirring when he moved it, and I’m pretty sure it was made of some kind of metal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is not betaed, mostly because it's the first thing I've written for a long while. I apologise for any and all mistakes. I'm adding Steve/Bucky to the tags because that is where Bucky is ultimately headed, although it might not get explicitly stated in this story. (There may also be some Foggy/Bucky in later chapters but I haven't quite decided yet if that will go beyond mild flirting...)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Hell's Kitchen is a good place if you want to disappear.

He wasn't really sure what to call himself inside his own head. He wasn't the Asset anymore. Not the Winter Soldier or any of the other code names he’d had over the years. Back then it hadn't mattered really, he never called himself anything. ‘Self’ was a concept he hadn't needed. He was the mission and nothing else.

‘James’ didn't seem to fit right. Like it wasn't really his, he doesn't think anybody called him that even before, before everything.

The man on the bridge.   
Steve.   
Steve had called him ‘Bucky’. But ‘Bucky’ felt like it had a weight that he wasn't sure he could stand anymore. It was part of the reason he hadn't let Steve find him yet. He needed to work out if ‘Bucky’ was something, someone, he was still capable of being. If he was the kind of man Steve remembered. On bad days he wondered if he was a man at all.

But Foggy had called him ‘Jamie’. Had made him smile, laugh even. ‘Jamie’ was someone close to ‘Bucky’ but without the weight of expectation. He still didn't feel quite comfortable with it, but it felt a hell of a lot more achievable than ‘Bucky’.

So in his own head he called himself ‘Barnes’ just to have a label to attach to the mess of fears, guilt and hopes he was discovering that he was now.

Hell’s Kitchen was a good place to hide as it turned out. There was no connection that he could remember to either the Winter Soldier or Bucky, and it was in a state of upheaval right now. Some kind of underworld kingpin had recently been arrested and several organisations lay in tatters. New players were milling round looking for new openings and chances that had been denied them before. Which meant no-one knew who was who or what anyone really wanted. This ‘Daredevil’ was enough of a threat that the whole place seemed to be holding its breath. It wouldn't last; someone would make a move sooner or later. Someone’s nerve would break. He wondered if the Daredevil realised that. But for now it was good background noise to get lost in. Barnes had been awake for a mission just after the Berlin wall fell. It felt a little like what he remembered of Berlin back then.

He wasn't looking to run into Foggy again. The man’s life seemed complicated enough without adding Barnes into the mix. Also Foggy’s friend Murdock had made it very clear that Barnes was not welcome. He knew where Foggy worked and where he lived, it was easy enough to steer clear. To be honest Barnes was trying to keep a low profile and Nelson and Murdock were rapidly making a name for themselves. If you had problems they were who you went to. They had pretty much destroyed Alaidine industries. Some of the top management were even looking at jail time. The rest had splintered off into shell companies and other bolt holes but still, it felt like at least a partial victory. 

So when he did run into Foggy several months after their first meeting it wasn't Barnes’ fault. 

Barnes picked up casual work when he needed money. Hell’s kitchen was full of construction work, rebuilding after the battle of New York. So it wasn't hard to get off the books work as unskilled labour. It wasn't as if they were checking anyone’s paperwork. Cash in hand at the end of the day suited Barnes just fine. There was a rumour going round the site all day that some lawyers were trying to find a guy who’d worked a couple of days last week, but Barnes didn't pay too much attention he just kept his head down and out of the way. Nothing to do with him, he hadn't been around last week anyway. It didn't occur to him that it would have had anything to do with Foggy until he heard Foggy’s voice calling him as he was standing in line to collect his wages from the foreman.

“Jaime? Hey! Jamie!”

“You’re popular, chatty sort are you?” asked the foreman with a sickly grin that was probably meant to be threatening.

Barnes just took the envelope with his cash and stared at the foreman. The man opened his mouth to speak again but thought better of it. “I don’t see anything,” stated Barnes flatly.

“As long as you remember that,” replied the foreman, looking round Bucky to glare at Foggy. It read to Barnes as a general malevolence rather than anything specific. This type of operation always got twitchy if people asked questions.

Barnes crossed over to Foggy as quickly as he could without looking too eager to be talking him. A couple of the casual workers eyed him suspiciously but most looked away. Noticing things was generally not worth the hassle to them. 

“Jamie!” exclaimed Foggy clapping a hand on Barnes left shoulder. He frowned slightly when it didn't give the way flesh would but it passed over his features quickly enough like a cloud over the sun. “It’s good to see you again, how are you holding up?”

Barnes couldn't help but smile back, a few seconds in Foggy’s company and he felt like someone who might be called Jamie. “I’m okay,” said Barnes. “How’s the head?”

“Thanks to your excellent care, it’s all better,” Foggy grinned. He pointed to his forehead where the cut had been. “Not even a scar, which is a shame. Would have added to my rakish charm.”

Barnes smirked back, if he felt like a Jamie maybe it would be okay to act a little like a Jamie. “Nah, wouldn't want to take attention from those pretty eyes.”

Foggy actually blushed and dipped his head a little, covering by digging through the bag hanging off his shoulder. “How long have you been working here? We’re looking for…”

“Only a couple of days,” said Barnes cutting Foggy off as his hand came out the bag with a photo. “Probably won’t come back tomorrow. It’s not really that kind of job.”

Foggy frowned again and seemed to be searching Barnes’ face for something. Barnes felt some of the Winter Soldier blankness bleed through in response to the scrutiny but that just made Foggy frown harder. “Listen you got anywhere to be? Because I could really use a drink?” Foggy looked so open and hopeful that Barnes said ‘yes’ before he’d had chance to think better of it.

**

“Welcome to Josie’s!” said Foggy swinging the door open with far more enthusiasm than the place deserved. 

Barnes looked round the bar. He’d been in worse places. Although not recently.

“Come on!” said Foggy at his unimpressed facial expression. Swinging an arm across Barnes back - not being quite able to reach across his shoulders - and leading him to the bar. “I will have you know that Josie’s is a New York institution. Do you know this bar was open throughout the battle of New York? Nothing closes Josie’s, thanks to a pair of brilliant young, somewhat dashing, lawyers, not even the great city of New York herself.” 

Foggy leant over the bar and snagged two glasses. An older woman appeared in the way of bartenders everywhere. She somehow managed to frown fondly at Foggy. “You still don’t get to drink for free, Nelson,” she said sliding a bottle down the bar which Foggy caught.

“Josie! You crack me up, you know that,” he grinned at her cheekily and her face softened slightly.

She nodded towards Barnes. “You really gotta stop bringing your dates here,” she said ignoring Foggy’s splutters and denials she fixed a beady stare on Barnes and seemed to look right through him. “That’s my lawyer, don’t break ‘im. Understood?”

Barnes straightened up. “Understood Ma’am.”

Josie smiled in a way that nothing to do with humour and disappeared down the other end of the bar. 

“Come on,” said Foggy pulling on Barnes good arm. “I spy a free table.”

They ended up at the table furthest from the bar sitting opposite each other with the bottle between them. Foggy poured a healthy slug into each of their glasses and pushed the photo form his bag across to Barnes. “That’s Toby Munroe,” he said quietly. “He’s got a wife and two kids. Been in and out of trouble his whole life. Two days ago he turned up dead. It’s being treated as a suicide but his wife is sure he was killed. She says he saw something at work a week or so ago that really shook him up. He was talking about packing up and leaving.”

Barnes picked up the photo and looked. “I don’t know him but like I said…”

“You've only been there a few days, right,” Foggy sighed and looked deflated.

“He worked at the building site?” asked Barnes.

“He worked a lot of places,” said Foggy. “Mostly cash in hand stuff with no records. His wife is really struggling. He actually had life insurance, but…”

“But it doesn't pay out on suicide,” finished Barnes. He pocketed the photo.” I can keep an ear out, sounds like we moved in similar circles.”

“Thanks,” said Foggy. “But be careful, okay? Don’t get hurt because of me.”

“I will,” said Barnes with a soft smile. “I’m good at lying low.”

“Jamie,” Foggy hesitated before he continued. “Are you in trouble?”

Barnes couldn't help but chuckle. “I was, now, I don’t even know. Just keeping moving, you know?”

Foggy downed the rest of his drink. “Matt thinks your hiding something. Are you?”

Barnes looked at Foggy for a long moment. Long enough for Foggy to start fidgeting. “You only ever asked me my name. And I told you as much as I know.”

“So, if I asked you something else? You’d tell me the truth?” asked Foggy, who may be fidgeting but he didn't look away.

“I reserve the right not to answer,” replied Barnes. “But I promise not to lie.”

“Why not?” asked Foggy.

“You really are a good lawyer aren't you?” countered Barnes, he took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling for a moment before focusing back on Foggy. “Because… I like you. I just like you. It’s been a long time since I just liked someone or something just… because. I wasn't allowed to.”

Foggy didn't look like he understood, but Barnes could hardly blame him for that when he barely understood himself. The silence dragged on for a while before Foggy said, “Could you show me your arm? Please?”

It crossed Barnes’ mind to pretend he didn't know what Foggy meant, but he had promised. Foggy still thought of him as Jamie. Jamie wouldn't break a promise. Neither would Bucky. Barnes rolled his left sleeve up to the elbow and pulled off his glove. He held his hand out to Foggy palm up.

Foggy lay his hand over the top of Barnes’. “Wow,” he breathed. “That’s amazing.”

Barnes couldn't help the flinch. Foggy’s hand tightened round his instinctively to stop him pulling away, not that he could have a hope of stopping Barnes if Barnes had really wanted to pull away, but it stopped him anyway.

“Sorry,” said Foggy. “I just… it’s… wow.” Barnes let Foggy turn his hand over. “Can… can you feel that?” 

Barnes shrugged. “Pressure, temperature, that’s about it. I get pain sometimes. Like… like it’s still real, but it isn't.” He felt shaky, he’d never put words around this before, even in his own head. He gently pulled his hand back and Foggy let him. He rolled the sleeve back down and pulled the glove back on. It felt like hiding. Foggy’s eyes were wide and looked bottomless in the dim lighting of the bar. Like they could swallow up all of Barnes secrets, even the ones he didn't know yet. “It goes up to my shoulder.”

Foggy looked at the table top then back up to Barnes. “I don’t want to ask any more. I want to have a drink with my friend. Is that okay?”

“Your friend Jamie?” asked Barnes hearing the tremble in his voice and hoping it wasn't as obvious to Foggy as it was to him.

“Is that alright?” asked Foggy smiling nervously. “I can call you something else if you don’t like Jamie?”

Barnes smiled back and Foggy beamed at him. “No, I can be Jamie.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody is a teddy bear and someone is looking after someone else. When we figure out who's who we'll let you know.

“Why are you not more drunker?” asked Foggy as he stumbled _yet again_ only for Jamie to nudge him back on course as he headed away from the now closed bar towards home. He frowned at his own question. “More drunk? Drunkererer? Neither of those sounds right.” He sighed at the unfairness of language.

Jamie just shrugged. “Good constitution, I guess,” he said. His voice sounded… cold and far away.

“Hey,” said Foggy softly stopping and turning his face up to stare at Jamie (stupid tall friend, who was that freakishly tall anyway?). “I made you sad, don’t be sad.”

Jamie cupped Foggy’s elbow and steered Foggy back onto the path (safe from the wolves and the monsters. Maybe. Probably not.). “I don’t believe you ever made anyone sad a day in your whole life.”

Foggy didn’t think he was supposed to hear that, Jamie had pitched it low and was looking away as he said it. “Made Matt cry once,” Foggy confided. “It was horrible, but I was so mad. Still am sometimes. Never want Matt to be hurt.” He leaned on Jamie’s arm and realised it was the metal one. “Hey, why don’t you walk all bendy?”

Jamie looked over at Foggy with this cute little wrinkle between his eyes. Foggy reached up to touch it but caught himself in time and diverted his hand to clap Jamie on the good shoulder instead. “Your arm is metal, gonna be all heavy,” Foggy reasoned. “So why aren’t you…” he waved his hands back and forth. “ Lopsided?”

“I think you might be drunk,” said Jamie with a weird sort of half smile that didn’t reach his eyes. 

Foggy nodded happily. “Yep, but so should you be. That was the plan.”

“You were plannin’ on getting me drunk and taking advantage, Mr Nelson?” Said Jamie, the smirk now reaching his eyes even if it looked a little forced.

Foggy looked blank for a second then flushed bright red as he realised the implications of what Jamie had said. “Not like that!” he hit Jamie’s arm with a friendly punch, flesh striking metal though cloth, hurting Foggy far more than Jamie. “I was gonna make you _sleep_ over so you would have to shower at mine and I could introduce you to the concept of hair conditioner.” That made Jamie laugh out loud, which Foggy immediately decided the world needed to hear more of. Making Jamie laugh was a public service.

They reached Foggy’s building without incident. Foggy even managed to get up to his apartment with a minimal amount of help (Jamie had to unlock the door because somebody had replaced Foggy’s very stable and reliable lock with some kind of fickle, moving lock that hated keys). Jamie made him drink like a whole pint of milk, something about lining his stomach and Foggy would thank him in the morning (Foggy pointed out that he wouldn’t be thankful in the morning when he had to brave the shops with a hangover to buy milk, Jamie chuckled not as good as the laugh but still worth it). 

“You’re going to stay, right?” asked Foggy. “Come on! Where do you even live anyway?”

“Around,” said Jamie. “I should go, I…”

But he made no move towards the door so Foggy grabbed his arm and tugged fruitlessly. “You should stay. It’s late and there are dangerous people roaming around in the night. And I’ll tell you a secret…”

“Yeah?” asked Jamie, trying not to smile and failing miserably.

“I like you,” Foggy stage whispered. “Quite a lot really. And you are far too sad; you should stay here so I can look after you.”

“Here I thought I was looking after you,” Jamie stage whispered back. 

Foggy grinned at that. “Sleepy time! Come on.” He tugged Jamie towards the bedroom.

“Hey, I’ll be okay. I can sleep on the couch…” protested Jamie weakly moving along with Foggy.

Foggy shook his head vigorously then regretted it as it made him dizzy. “Most uncomfortable couch in the known universe man. It’s truly awful, just sleep with me.” Foggy’s alcohol fuzzy brain suddenly realised how that sounded. “I mean… just to sleep, if you want? Or I could take the couch, ‘cus you’re a guest and my mum would be appalled if I let a guest sleep on that thing and…”

“It’s okay,” said Jamie. “Just to sleep. I… get nightmares, a lot though so…”

“It’s okay,” echoed Foggy. 

It should have been more awkward than it was, but Foggy was drunk so he just curled up round Jamie like it was the easiest thing in the world. Jamie froze up for a few moments but Foggy hung on until the larger man relaxed into it. Foggy hummed happily. “Like a giant teddy bear,” he mumbled, dropping off to sleep in degrees.

“I think they made a teddy bear of me once,” said Jamie half to himself. “I think I remember Dum-Dum got one sent to London from the US and he laughed himself stupid when he gave it to me. But maybe I just read about it. Or maybe it didn’t happen.”

Foggy was asleep by that point and didn’t answer.

**

When Foggy woke up he was on his own. He tried not to feel disappointed about that. He dragged himself out of bed. It was Saturday, but that didn’t mean it was a day off. Matt was coming round later to go over what they’d each managed to find out from Munroe's various places of employment. At least the ones his wife had known about.

There was a knock at the door. Foggy cursed, trust Murdock to be early. He headed over to the door, attempting to comb his hair with his fingers as he walked. But when he opened the door it wasn’t Matt, it was Jamie, holding a bottle of milk.

“Wouldn’t want you to have to face the shops with a hangover,” he said.

Foggy stepped to one side and let Jamie in. “You are amazing and may stay over anytime.”

Jamie grinned. “Well I did help myself to your shower and hair conditioner at 5am so maybe we’re even.”

Foggy frowned as he crossed over to the kitchenette and put the milk away. “5am? Did you have nightmares?”

Jamie shrugged, not meeting Foggy’s eyes. “It wasn’t too bad. You make a good teddy bear.”

“Nah man, that was you. I’m heading for a shower, you staying for a bit? I make a wicked bowl of cereal.”

Which is why Jamie was sat on the world’s most uncomfortable couch eating cereal and watching cartoons bemusedly when there was another knock on the door. 

“Can you get that? It’ll be Matt,” Foggy shouted from the bathroom, hurrying to get dressed remembering that Matt was not Jamie’s biggest fan. Matty could sometimes take a strange dislike to people that nothing could shake.

Foggy could make out voices through the wall. “Hi?” said Matt (pretending he didn’t know who it was in front of him and probably making that face he made when he was hiding surprise).

“Hey, I’m Foggy’s friend. Jamie Barnes? We met once.” Jamie sounded perfectly friendly but his voice had that far away, cold quality that Foggy had spent last night chasing away.

“Yes, Mr Barnes. I remember your voice.” Foggy winced. That was Matt’s ‘talking to opposing counsel’ voice. “What brings you here?”

Foggy managed not to burst out of the bathroom in an overly dramatic fashion but only just. “Matty! You remember Jamie, yeah? Saved _my life_ a few months ago. Turns out he works for that construction firm that Munroe worked for.”

“I should get going,” said Jamie awkwardly. “Thanks for letting me crash here. I’ll see what I can find out about Munroe, yeah?”

Foggy wanted to say ‘you don’t have to go’ but both Matt and Jamie were looking horrifically uncomfortable. “Be careful, I mean it. Don’t get yourself hurt.”

Jamie gave him a half smile and tilted his head. “I can look after myself. See you ‘round.”

Jamie left which meant Foggy was left with Matt doing that thing which felt like he was glaring at you while technically ‘looking’ just over your shoulder. 

“He ‘crashed’ here?” asked Matt raising an eyebrow. 

Foggy headed into the kitchen area with Jamie’s discarded bowl. “Yes. Do you want some cereal?” he asked, dropping Jamie’s bowl into the sink and getting a clean one from the cupboard for himself.

“No, I’m good. He didn’t sleep on the couch. And he smells like you,” Matt asked carefully (but it wasn’t asking really. It was a statement and it was creepy and uncomfortable and Foggy didn’t know how to deal with it, so he didn’t).

“I can’t make anyone sleep on that couch; I think it’s against the Geneva convention or something. He slept with me. Just slept, and borrowed my shampoo. Not that I have to justify any of this,” said Foggy, pouring rice krispies into the bowl and not looking at Matt.

“Of course not,” said Matt sounding hurt. “Just be careful, okay. He’s… there’s something about him. I can’t figure it out.”

Foggy smiled at his best friend. “Hey, I’m always careful buddy. He’s a good guy, just a bit broken.”

Matt smiled back. “You do attract the broken ones. Just look at me.” Matt smile turned self-deprecatory and Foggy hated it as much as he always did. Matt was not broken (well okay he kinda _was_ but that wasn’t a bad thing. It was just Matt).

“You’re not broken Matty,” said Foggy with a grin. “You’re a wounded duck. Come on, let’s see what we know about Mr Munroe now.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to get a bit more serious...

All the jobs Barnes did were on sketchy ground legally speaking. Cash in hand, no records, at the very least cheating the tax man. But there are sketchy jobs and _really_ sketchy jobs, Barnes tended to avoid those. He didn’t want to be noticed, by anyone. He was well aware of who was looking for him. From the really bad to the really good, and he had good reasons to avoid both.

The thing was though; Barnes didn’t actually need a lot of money. He was living in cheap motels and on the streets, keeping moving never sticking to one place more than a couple of days. He only had himself to feed. But Toby Munroe had a family. He might have been a little more desperate, a little less fussy. So when the foreman from the building site offered a Barnes a job unloading at the docks in the middle of the night for far too much money, Barnes accepted. It seemed like it was an ongoing project from what the foreman said if not regular work, and it was exactly the kind of thing someone like Toby Munroe would have taken on. 

The first night Barnes kept his head down. Assessed the lay of the land, let the soldier in him do some recon. It stirred up some more loose memories. Things both good and bad, scouting head in Europe for Steve and the commandos, scouting on his own in Russia and other places to find the target of the mission. 

The second night a man called Bradshaw was there. A thin, wiry, man with dirty blonde hair cut close to his scalp. Irish accent and probably in his late 30’s. No-one seemed to like him, although he clearly thought a lot of himself. He ran his mouth a lot. Barnes stuck close to him, not close enough to get noticed but close enough to overhear things. 

The work wasn’t anything close to regular. A few nights one week, then nothing for a few days, then another odd night. Then nothing again. Both loading and unloading, ships coming in from various and random places, going out to equally varied destinations. Bucky stuck it out for a couple of weeks; he was just about to give it up as a bad job when two things happened on the same night. First, He heard Munroe’s name mentioned. It was a warning. The guy who was supervising the workers told Bradshaw to ‘shut the hell up before he ended up like Munroe’. The second thing happened a few hours later. There was a kid, couldn’t be more than 19, who dropped his end of a crate. It split as it hit the ground; behind the wooden slats a logo was partially visible. Enough for Barnes to recognise it, enough for Barnes blood to run cold. Red on black, a skull and tentacles. Barnes kept his head down and pretended he hadn’t seen it. The kid looked panicky, he probably didn’t know what he’d seen, just that he’d screwed up. Barnes saw the supervisor give the kid a wary look and then nod at one of the heavily muscled men who never did any of the lifting but always seemed to be around.

Barnes followed the kid home in the early hours. The kid, and the large heavily muscled shadow he’d picked up. The guy was big but Barnes would bet didn’t have any fighting skills much beyond being bigger than the other guy. Barnes knocked him out from behind as he tried to corner the kid down an alley.

“T..Thanks,” stammered the kid.

“Go home, pack a bag and get away for a while,” said Barnes through the scarf he’d tied round his face. 

“I will,” said the kid eyes as wide as saucers. “You don’t look much like the newspapers said.”

Barnes had already turned to leave, he turned back. “What?”

“Well,” said the kid with a nervous grin. “You’re the Devil, right? Daredevil.”

Barnes didn’t respond, let the kid think that, all the better to cover his tracks.

He kept moving until he was a decent distance away from the kid and the docks. He ducked into an abandoned warehouse he sometimes slept in. He pulled the scarf off his face and let the panic he felt inside bubble up to the surface. 

Fucking Hydra.

**

“Look I know you don’t like the guy,” said Foggy as he and Matt entered the office. Karen, who was already sat at her desk, looked up as they walked in. “But he went to find stuff out _for us_ and now I haven’t heard from him for _two weeks_. Surely that warrants _concern_.”

“Foggy, the time before that it was _months_ inbetween visits. He’s kind of a drifter at best. I’m not saying don’t be concerned I just don’t think it’s time to freak out just yet,” argued Matt.

“This is different Matt, what if he’s hurt because he asked the wrong guy the wrong question?”

“Who are we talking about?” asked Karen.

“Foggy’s boyfriend,” said Matt with a grin.

“So _not_ my boyfriend,” protested Foggy. “Friend.”

“This is the girl from Punjabi class all over again,” said Matt with a shake of his head. 

“I didn’t know Foggy liked boys…” teased Karen.

“Sure,” said Foggy with a shrug. “You know, sometimes I forget you weren’t around when we were at college.”

Matt pulled a face. “I sometimes wish I hadn’t been around when we were at college then I wouldn’t have any memories of Gavin…”

Foggy threw a pen at Matt’s head, Matt caught it in mid-air while Karen was looking in her bag for something, he stuck his tongue out at Foggy.

“So…” said Karen looking back up from her bag. “When do I get to meet said not-a-boyfriend?”

“The word is ‘friend’, Karen,” said Foggy with a sniff. “And hopefully…”

Foggy was interrupted by the door opening. Jamie came through it quickly closing it behind himself. 

“…Right now,” continued Foggy. “Jamie, you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jamie said crossing over to the window and closing the blinds. He peered through onto the street below. 

Karen looked at Foggy and Matt did that thing where it was very clear (knowing what Foggy knew now) that he was focusing on Jamie. 

Foggy cleared his throat. “Jamie? What’s going on?”

“You need to stop looking into Munroe’s death,” said Jamie flatly. “I’ll take care of it.”

Matt and Karen visibly bristled at the words and the tone. Foggy didn’t really blame them, he had a fair bit of bristling going on himself. 

“Why would we do that, Mr Barnes?” asked Matt. He’d squared off shifting his posture ready for a fight. It would look to most people like he was just trying to face Jamie and miscalculated because he couldn’t _see_ where Jamie was. Foggy knew better now. He wondered what Jamie’s heartbeat was doing now. Was it racing? Jamie looked calm, he was stock still. You could barely see him breathing.

“It’s too dangerous, you don’t know what you’re getting involved in,” replied Jamie not taking his eyes off the street. Foggy barely recognised the eerily still man in the office. It was like there was nothing in him at all. 

“Jamie,” started Foggy, his tone soothing.

Jamie’s head turned and he looked straight at Foggy. For all that his body was still his eyes were terrified. “Please Foggy, this is something you need to stay as far away from as possible.” He turned back to the window.

“This is our city,” said Matt with steel in his voice. 

“It not about the city,” said Jamie. He nodded to himself and headed back across the office. 

Foggy reached out to catch Jamie’s arm as he past but Jamie brushed him off like he wasn’t even there. “We won’t leave you to deal with this on your own,” said Foggy aiming for the same kind of steel that was in Matt’s voice but knowing that he fell flat. Jamie ignored him completely and carried on out of the door, leaving a stunned silence behind him.

“Well,” said Karen breaking the tension. “He’s a charmer.”

“What the hell happened?” asked Foggy. “He was terrified.”

Matt shook his head. “He didn’t seem terrified Foggy, his… breathing sounded steady.” 

Foggy caught the hesitation, Matt meant heartbeat, which meant Jamie wasn’t lying either. “You didn’t see his eyes Matt. He was… I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone look that scared.”

“What does he know about Munroe?” asked Karen.

Foggy blinked. “He worked at the construction sites Munroe worked at; he said he’d ask round for me. See what he could find.”

“Well he clearly found something,” speculated Matt. “We need to find out what that was.” 

“I’ll pull up everything we know about that construction company,” said Karen turning to her computer. Matt walked into his office and Foggy followed him.

“Matt, what are you going to do?” he asked. Foggy felt sick, worried about Jamie and he knew, he _knew_ before Matt even answered that Daredevil, Matt, was going to go out looking for Jamie tonight. Looking for trouble. 

“I’ll find him Foggy, okay,” replied Matt and he was trying to be reassuring, Foggy knew that. But it just made Foggy worry more. 

“Be careful,” warned Foggy past the lump in his throat. “We have no idea what’s going on.”

“When am I not careful?” asked Matt with a half smirk that made Foggy _really_ want to hit him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets come out and things get worse.

Daredevil stood on a rooftop listening for Barnes. Unfortunately he couldn’t pick anything up. Barnes didn’t seem to be talking and it’s not like Matt was familiar enough with Barnes’ heartbeat to pick it out of the crowd. He tries to catch a whiff of Foggy’s shampoo but it was weeks ago that Barnes borrowed that, and Matt would have to be pretty close anyway, within a block at least. Plus Foggy used a fairly popular brand. Matt was concentrating so hard on that one thing that for a second it made it seem like there were Foggy’s all around him. Matt shook off the illusion. He’d have to go patrolling, maybe start at the construction site Foggy found Barnes at and head outwards? Not a great plan but the best lead he has right now. Hopefully Foggy and Karen can dig up some better ones.

**

Karen looked at Foggy through her hair. He was focused on the paper in front of him. A list of companies that they know Toby Munroe worked for in various, very unofficial, capacities, and their links to other companies. She wished Matt were here, but he’s gone to see Brett to file an unofficial missing persons report. Foggy seemed worried, he was the one who usually made jokes and took their minds off the worry. _Matt_ was the silent thinker who focused on the work. She thinks, not for the first time, that she really prefers her friends together rather than apart. 

“So,” she said carefully letting Foggy see the hook in the conversation. Never verbally ambush Foggy, it doesn’t end well for you. She learned that from Marci. “That was Jamie?”

“He’s not normally that…” started Foggy.

“Dickish?” finished Karen with a smile to take the sting out of the word.

Foggy frowned like he was going to argue but then he just sighed. “Yeah.”

“Do you…” Karen paused, thinking of the best way to phrase the question. “Do you think he’s involved in some way? I mean not necessarily with the murder, but…” she left the question open, hoping that Foggy would pick it up.

Foggy scrubbed his face with one hand. “I don’t know, I really don’t think he knew anything about Munroe, or he’s a fantastic actor. He said he wouldn’t lie to me, but who knows if that was true, sometimes even people you trust completely lie,” Foggy seemed so terrifically _sad_ about that, Karen felt a stab of panic, like somehow Foggy knew about her but he couldn’t, he _couldn’t_. Besides if he did Foggy would talk to her about it. He doesn’t let things lie. 

“He was hiding,” Foggy continued. “He told me that much, ‘keeping moving’ he called it. Maybe something caught up? Why can’t people just tell me things? How I’m I supposed to help if I don’t know?” He asked Karen, eyes wide and his heart on his sleeve like always. Karen felt like a terrible person.

“Maybe you’re not responsible for saving us,” she replied gently, swallowing back the bile in her throat. She’s not sorry she did what she did. If it keeps the people she loves safe, the people who listened when they could have walked away. 

Foggy smiled back, “Hey I’m not the one with the Savior complex in this office, that’s Matt, remember?”

Karen laughed and let the deflection stand. “Right.”

“Hey Karen?” asked Foggy, turning his attention back to the papers in his hand. “I keep seeing a company called Kronos popping up. What do we know about them?”

**  
Matt went to the construction site, but it was late and the place was mostly deserted. Mostly, but not completely, there was a man coming out of the office. His heartbeat racing. Matt observed from the roof of a portacabin. Trusting the shadows and the fact that no-one really looked at familiar places that closely to keep him hidden. The man waited by the side of the road and a van pulled up. In need of new exhaust manifold gasket by the sound of the engine. Another man stepped out of the van. He smelled faintly like whiskey, a regular drinker but not drunk right now. 

“We’ve got a problem,” said Heartbeat.

“Yeah,” said Whiskey Drinker, from the way the sounds bounced back to Matt he was at least 6 foot tall and heavy set. The other man was much smaller. “Please tell me it’s Bradshaw, I really want to hit that guy.”

Heartbeat giggled nervously. “I hear ya, but no, it’s the new guy, Barnes.”

Whiskey sounded surprised at that. “Damn, I thought he was on the level.”

“Me too, but I got other information, ya know? Apparently he’s staking out the operation at the docks right now. Got himself a rifle and everything.” His heartbeat got faster. “We need to go sort him out.”

“Sure thing, boss,” said Whiskey. “Any loose ends?”

“Nah,” said Heatbeat getting into the van. “Bradshaw’s going to go deal with what there is.”

Whiskey snorted but didn’t say anything and then they were driving away. Leaving Matt to follow the sound of the exhaust manifold.

**  
Barnes looked through the sight on the rifle. He’d been staking out the warehouse for few hours. He recognised some of the people as workers from the docks. This was where the crates were stored before they headed out again. 

“You’re not going to attack me or you would have done it already,” said Barnes to the patch of deeper darkness that turned up on his roof a few minutes ago.

“What are you doing here?” asked the shadow, keeping back and it seemed to Barnes like he was disguising his voice as much as he could.

“Watching,” said Barnes flatly.

“With a gun?” asked the shadow.

“Yes,” said Barnes unwilling to give anything away.

There was a pointed silence for a few long moments. “They know you’re here,” said the shadow. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I know,” said Barnes. “I’m waiting to see what they do. Why should I tell you anything?”

“Because this is my city,” said the shadow moving forward slightly. 

Barnes glanced back. The shadow had moved forward just enough that he could make out the silhouette. The Daredevil. “Your horns are ridiculous,” said Barnes. The Daredevil didn’t respond. Barnes weighed up his options. He moved away from the gun. “Take a look,” he said motioning to the gun.

“It’s a gun,” said Daredevil with distaste. 

Barnes raised an eyebrow at the tone. “Look through the sight,” he clarified. 

Daredevil sighed and couched by the gun, putting his face to the sight. Barnes frowned at the man’s cowl. The eye coverings didn’t look any different to the rest of the mask. Even if you could see through that your vision would have to be comprised to some degree. “What am I looking at?” he asked something soured his tone, like he was… angry at what Barnes had asked him to do.

“The logo on the crate,” said Barnes.

“I don’t recognise it,” said the Daredevil sharply, standing up. Barnes was close enough now, to see the shape of the man’s mouth, his chin. Barnes recognised something there.

“Describe it,” asked Barnes testing the ridiculous theory that had just entered his head. He shifted his stance, subconsciously preparing for a fight.

“Cut the games and tell me what it is,” said the Daredevil. Barnes waved a hand in front of the other man’s face. “And stop waving at me like a toddler,” snapped Daredevil.

“How...?” asked Barnes carefully.

“Wait,” interrupted Daredevil. “Someone’s here, three people have entered the building. On their way up to us. Two of them are from the building site you worked at. I followed them here.”

“Hell of a trick,” said Barnes begrudgingly, shifting towards the access door. 

The door opened and a gun came through it. Followed by the large man Barnes had stopped from hurting the kid, then the foreman from the building site, then an equally large man with another gun. They fanned out, a gun trained on Barnes and Daredevil each.

“Well, you two having a nice little _chat_ ,” asked the foreman nastily.

“Yeah actually,” said Barnes slowly taking a couple of steps away from Daredevil. “Very enlightening.”

“Stay still,” snarled the foreman. “What could you ladies be chatting about then? Fashion?”

“You’re not used to this are you?” asked Daredevil with a smirk. “Your heart’s going a mile a minute. Didn’t sign up for this.” He moved a little way from Barnes. Now they were both closer to the gunmen and further from each other.

“I said, STOP MOVING!” shouted the foreman. Barnes could see the sweat on his forehead. 

“What’s the matter, Clark?” asked Barnes, moving again. “Above your paygrade?”

Barnes saw Daredevil move out the corner of his eye and he moved with him. They each dived at their respective gunmen. Grabbing the gun, Barnes drove his metal elbow into the guy’s stomach and the man gave a satisfying ‘oof’ of expelled air right next to Barnes cheek. Barnes twisted the gun out of the guys hand and hit him across the back of the head. The guy went down easy. Barnes had the gun pointed at the other people on the roof in a spilt second. But Clark was sprawled unmoving on the floor, the second gun lying on the ground not far from him. It looked like Daredevil had thrown it, knocking Clark out. Daredevil was stood a little further away. He dragged the body of the other man up, punched him and dropped him to the floor. Barnes kept his gun trained on Daredevil.

Daredevil stood up slowly and turned to face Barnes. “Going to shoot me?”

Barnes let the silence stretch for a moment. “No,” he said eventually, pointing the gun at the floor. “But only because Foggy would kill me.”

**

Karen continued tapping at the computer as she spoke. “So the Kronos Corporation is a Russian company. They do a lot of work in America generally.”

“And looking at these,” said Foggy gesturing to the papers on desk while leaning over Karen’s shoulder to see the computer screen. “They’ve been moving into Hell’s Kitchen slowly for the past few months, ever since Fisk got arrested. Maybe Munroe was working directly for them? It would explain the money he was getting that his wife couldn’t account for.”

“She thought he was gambling,” said Karen.

“Working for these guys, maybe he was,” replied Foggy darkly. 

“Do you think they’ve got anything to do with the Russian mob?” asked Karen.

“Fun thought,” said Foggy. God he hoped not, Matt already had enough bruises and scars that could be attributed to those assholes. And Jamie spoke Russian, didn’t he? “Any other companies they have anything to do with?”

Karen tapped a few more keys. “About a month ago they brought a 40% share in an import/export company called… LRE Ltd. Nothing since then that I can find on record.”

Just then the door burst open. Two men came through. “Hello,” said one of the men cheerily. He was holding a baseball bat and had a manic grin.

Foggy stepped in front of Karen who gasped and tried to fumble for her bag and the can of mace inside. But at some point the bag had fallen on the floor and was out of reach. “What do you want?” asked Foggy. He desperately looked for some way out, but the men were blocking the only doorway.

“There’s this guy, works for us, well _worked_. Bit of a loner. Turns out the only person he’s spent any time with at all is you. So you and the pretty lady get to pass on a message for us,” the man said, Irish accent curling around the words making them sound almost friendly. He nodded to his companion who came forward and grabbed Karen. 

Foggy tried to grab the man but got backhanded for his trouble. He fell to the floor. The man pulled Karen into Matt’s office, Karen was hitting and trying to scratch him but he didn’t even react. He threw Karen up the corner like a ragdoll and pulled the phone out of the wall. Slamming the door shut behind him and wedging a chair under the handle.

The Irish guy moved towards Foggy. He heard Karen shouting his name and rattling the handle as the bat swung back. He hoped that this meant they’d leave her alone. (God Matt was going to blame himself). Foggy hoped he’d found Jamie before anything awful had happened (more awful than this, which was going to be pretty terrible). The bat swung forwards. Then everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confession is good for the soul.

Matt felt his blood run cold, a tattoo beating in his head. _He knows, he knows, he knows, he knows _. He forced himself to keep his face blank. Glad that his mask hid so much of it. “What’s a Foggy?” he asked.__

__Barnes snorted and the gun his was holding disappeared into the general impression of him. Matt could make it out if he concentrated. Small of the back, there was another handgun on his hip, and a knife in his left boot. Barnes stalked forward and stowed away the second gun about his person before turning to the rifle, his back to Matt, like he didn’t think Matt was a threat. Matt felt his hands curl into fists by his side._ _

__“Your fond of guns,” spat Matt not even trying to hide his disdain._ _

__Barnes shrugged, practiced movements dismantling the gun and packing it into a case. “They’re a tool, that’s all. We need to get off this roof.”_ _

__“Tools for killing people,” stated Matt. “How do I know you’re any better than the men in that warehouse?”_ _

__“How do I know you’re a ‘good’ guy?” countered Barnes swinging the case onto his back and turning back round to face Matt._ _

__“You kill people, I don’t” said Matt like it was final and unshakable._ _

__“I bet you don’t,” agreed Barnes but there was something hard and judgmental in his tone._ _

__“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Matt roughly._ _

__“It means you only stopped hitting that guy a least five punches after he was already unconscious. It means there are a _hell_ of a lot of stories about ‘The Daredevil’ and not a one claims you’re an angel. It means putting people in a coma isn’t somehow morally cleaner than killing them. Not always.”_ _

__“People wake up from comas,” retorted Matt._ _

__“Not always,” repeated Barnes. “Now _Mr Murdock_ , we need to get away from here. These idiots are just thugs but they are thugs with friends, and someone is going to come looking sooner or later.”_ _

__“I’ll tell you when someone’s coming,” said Matt. “What did you call me?” Matt kept his face blank but in his head the chorus of _he knows, he knows, he knows_ got louder. It sounded a lot like Foggy._ _

__“The mask only hides half your face, you might be blind, but I’m not. And you shouldn’t talk so much if the only way you have to disguise your voice is a gravelly accent,” said Barnes, his heartbeat stayed steady. Matt realised that Barnes heartbeat was always steady, even when Foggy had said the man looked terrified. Reason number… Matt had lost count, not to trust the guy._ _

__“How could I possibly be blind?” asked Matt gesturing to the unconscious men on the floor._ _

__“I don’t know,” admitted Barnes. “It’s the best trick I’ve seen in a while. But tell you what, prove me wrong. What was the logo on the side of the crate I showed you?”_ _

__Matt felt his teeth clench. “I didn’t recognise it,” he forced out._ _

__“Describe it,” challenged Barnes. “Size, shape, colour, anything.”_ _

__Matt didn’t respond._ _

__“Whatever you do doesn’t work through a long range scope, huh?” said Barnes with a smirk._ _

__Matt did not fidget, but only thanks to Sticks training. “We need to get off this roof,” he said instead. “See if you and the armory can keep up!” He took a running jump off the rooftop not looking to see if Barnes followed. But he heard the muttered “show off” anyway._ _

__**_ _

__Foggy lay very still. Everything hurt, he couldn’t remember the men leaving but they were gone. He could hear Karen calling his name, then the sound of glass breaking. A few moments later there were cool hands on his face and Karen was talking to him. “Come on Foggy, stay with me. Stay with me please. Please!”_ _

__“It’s okay,” Foggy croaked. “It hurts…” He wanted to say it must be okay _because_ it still hurts. (Right? He’s pretty sure Matt said something like that once.) But he can’t get that many words out. And now Karen is crying._ _

__“Stay with me Foggy,” she repeated. “I’m calling an ambulance, okay? I’m going to the phone then I’m coming right back.”_ _

__“Don’t call Matt…” Foggy tries to force out. Because Matt needs to find Jamie, because Jamie is in some kind of trouble and Foggy will be okay. (Soon as the ambulance comes and the painkillers are administered, because Matt might be good at carrying all this pain and still getting back up but Foggy has hit the mat hard and he’s not getting back on his feet without some help.) But he doesn’t think Karen hears him._ _

__**_ _

__Matt always takes a complicated route home, doubling back multiple times, climbing heights and jumping distances that would give most other people pause. They are specifically designed to lose people, so no-one can follow him home. Barnes disappeared from Matt’s senses fairly early on. Matt is a little bit disappointed to be honest._ _

__Until he gets back to his apartment to find Barnes sitting on his couch. At least he hasn’t got the rifle anymore; he must have stashed it somewhere along the way._ _

__“I know who you are,” said Barnes to Matt’s stony silence. “So I skipped the dance and just came straight over. Picked your lock. It’s terrible.”_ _

__Matt pulled the cowl off, really no use pretending anymore. “What was the logo,” asked Matt harshly._ _

__“Hydra,” said Barnes flatly. All traces of the humour that had been in Barnes’ voice a second ago was gone. “I saw one at the docks the other night. I thought this was Hydra. I… may have panicked a bit.”_ _

__“Hydra, as in Shield?” asked Matt._ _

__“Hydra hid in Shield, and did some truly awful things in Shield’s name. But no, not the same,” answered Barnes._ _

__“How do you know that?” asked Matt still standing over Barnes while Barnes sat in a lose sprawl on his sofa. Heartbeat still steady, but his breathing was shorter and Matt could smell the start of sweat on his brow._ _

__“I worked for Hydra,” said Barnes his voice still blank but with a quality Matt couldn’t really name. But he recognised it from his own voice in the confessional booth. From his Dad’s those times when he’d lost the fight but they’d still made the rent._ _

__Matt didn’t say anything; he waited the other man out. There was more, and he knew from experience the poison had to be drawn out._ _

__“They found me, broken, during World War 2. They fixed me, if you wanna call it that. For 70 years I was their weapon and their experiment,” said Barnes sitting forward and hunching his shoulders, Matt heard the sound of hair brushing against cloth and skin as Barnes hung his head forward. “They brainwashed me, wiped my memories over and over. Stuck me in cryogenic suspension when I wasn’t useful. I broke free eventually and I’ve been hiding. I thought they were back and I just…” Barnes lifted up his head and stood, passing Matt and standing by the window. “I thought I could… take care of this cell before Foggy, or anyone else, got messed up in it. Because I’m not going back. And Foggy… I don’t think he’d let me do what I needed to do to stay out. If it came to that.”_ _

__This time the silence was because Matt didn’t know what to say. “I’m Catholic, you know?” he said in the end just to break the heavy moment._ _

__Barnes shrugged. “Figures. So was I, I think, once upon a time.” He rested his forehead on the glass. “But it isn’t Hydra,” continued Barnes, letting out a breath of relief and _now_ his heartbeat picked up a little. “Nowhere near well organised enough. This is just local muscle, not too bright. I think someone has got a stash of old Hydra tech and is bringing it thorough Hell’s Kitchen, removing identifying marks and then shipping it out again. Maybe to a buyer? Maybe back to Hydra.”_ _

__“So it’s not as bad as it could have been,” said Matt with a sigh._ _

__“Karen. Karen. Karen. Karen,” chirped Matt’s phone from the coffee table._ _


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversations in the hospital.

Barnes watched Murdock rush over to where the young woman was sitting; she'd curled up in the waiting room chair. She’d washed her face but was obvious she had been crying. Murdock managed to stop before she saw him and called out her name. She hurried over and lead Murdock over to the chairs. Barnes wondered how exhausting that had to be. Constantly hiding exactly what you can do.

The woman, Karen, she had a fresh bandage on her hand and cuts on both arms. They’ve all been cleaned and dressed. Murdock hugged her, she looked shaken. Barnes scanned the room, mostly habit, checking the exits and the possible threats. Karen stiffens when she notices him. “You and Brett found him then?” she asked coolly.

“Yeah,” said Murdock. “Karen, what happened, you said Foggy was hurt?” He ran a hand over the bandage on her hand. “What happened to you?”

“We were attacked in the office,” said Karen, her voice shaking but her face determined. “Two men, one was Irish I think, the other one didn’t speak. He locked me in your office. Then the Irish one hit Foggy, a lot, and then they left. I had to break your window to get out so I could help him.” She fixed her gaze on Barnes. “They said it was a ‘message’ for someone who used to work with them. The only person they could find that knew him was Foggy.”

Barnes met the gaze even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Where’s Foggy?” 

Karen turned her head away. “He’s in a ward. They’ve sedated him. No broken bones but severe bruising and they’re worried about head injuries. They want to observe him overnight. I… I didn’t want to leave him.”

“It’s going to be okay,” said Murdock lowly, flashing a sad smile in Karen’s general direction. She returned it but didn’t look all that convinced. “Look I know one of the nurses here. Claire Temple. Let me go find her and I’ll see what else I can find out, okay?”

Karen nodded and bit her lip.

“Wait,” said Barnes. “The Irish guy, what did he look like?”

Karen looked at Murdock, Murdock obviously didn’t react. She took a deep breath. “He was mid 30’s. Really short, blondish hair. Kinda scraggy looking.”

“Bradshaw,” said Barnes, but he already mostly figured it out. “He used to hang round the docks where I worked. Big mouth and he seemed to think he was important. Clark and the others just tolerated him.”

Karen’s eyes went wide. “Bradshaw? He owns LRE Ltd.”

“What’s that?” asked Murdock.

“The company by the docks that Munroe and Jamie were working for,” she explained. “They had 40% of their stock brought out a month or so ago. Just around when they started unloading and reloading things in the middle of the night.”

Barnes was slightly taken aback by the name ‘Jamie’ on her lips. Still she’d probably only heard about him from Foggy. 

“Who brought the stock?” asked Murdock. 

“A company called Kronos, they’ve been buying up a lot of things in Hell’s kitchen recently,” said Karen. 

Barnes carefully kept his face blank but, _‘Kronos’_ , that rings a bell. But he can’t quite place it. He moves away from Murdock and Karen they, and Foggy, don’t need to be dragged into this anymore than they are. 

“Where are you going?” asked Karen as he headed to the door. “To find Bradshaw,” replied Barnes without stopping. He felt a hand on his arm, it was Murdock. Karen had headed over to the desk to talk to the receptionist.

“What are you going to do?” asked Murdock.

“I told you, find Bradshaw,” said Barnes.

“Then what?” asked Murdock a fair amount of Daredevil’s gravel in his voice.

“Let him know I got his message,” said Barnes flatly.

Murdock frowned. “You’re not even going to see Foggy?” It was a weak argument and Murdock looked like he knew it. 

“He’s sedated, and if Bradshaw has any sense he’ll be going to ground right now, I need to find him before the trail goes cold.” Murdock had a stubborn set to his jaw, like he was going to argue. So Barnes changed the subject. “Does Foggy even know? About you? Because she clearly doesn’t,” he said. Tilting his head towards Karen. 

“Yes he does,” said Matt through gritted teeth. 

“Right,” said Barnes with a nasty smile. “Because you _told_ him or because he _found you out_? You’re going looking for Bradshaw just as much as I am. You’re just worried I’ll get to him first, you don’t trust me to share what I find out.”

“I don’t trust you not to kill him,” said Murdock firmly. 

Barnes just let the nasty smile on his face spread wider. Murdock could think what the hell he liked.

“Matt,” called another woman standing with Karen. 

Barnes left while Murdock was distracted. Betting on Murdock not chasing him with the two women looking on.

**

Matt let Barnes go. There was nothing he could do to stop him with Karen and Claire looking on. Besides, Foggy was much more important than Bradshaw right now. He walked over to them Karen’s heartbeat was still raised, worry over Foggy, the stress of the whole situation. Claire was stressed too, but that was the more her everyday being-a-nurse-in-ER stress. She smelled of anti-septic and anti-histamines, Matt suddenly realised he’d missed her. 

“Your friend Foggy is doing well, under the circumstances,” said Claire getting straight to the point. “I’ve seen people with far worse injuries from that kind of beating.”

Ouch, Matt can feel the glare that accompanies her words; he hopes that the visual cues aren’t obvious enough for Karen to pick up on. He cast his senses over Karen but he can’t detect a change. 

“Can we see him?” asked Karen hopefully.

Claire frowned. “He’s sedated; even if he does come round while you’re there he’s going to be pretty out of it.” She turned her glare on Karen. “And you should go home and get some sleep. You need it.”

Karen opened her mouth to argue but Matt interrupted, giving Claire one of his most winning smiles. “Give us 20 minutes with Foggy, and then I’ll make sure Karen goes home, okay?”

From what Matt could sense neither woman was happy with this but Claire just sighed. “10 minutes, and that’s all your getting. Then sleep,” she said the last part aimed firmly at Karen.

Claire walked them up to Foggy’s ward. He was asleep, his face unmarked but Matt could sense the blood close to the skin where he was bruised, which was pretty much everywhere. No broken bones that he could detect from where he stood. There was a smell of blood, head wound probably. But Foggy’s breathing and heartbeat were steady; if a little slow due to the drugs. Matt felt something uncoil a little in his chest. Foggy was going to be okay.

“I’ll leave you to it,” said Claire. “10 minutes remember?”

Karen nods and Matt has a quick split second battle with himself. “Claire? The man I was talking to in the waiting room? His name is Jamie Barnes, he might come back to see Foggy later.”

Claire paused for a second before asking, “Do you want me to let him in or chase him away?”

Matt could feel his fist tighten around his cane but he said, “Let him in. Foggy would want to see him.”

Claire noticed Matt’s discomfort. “But you’re not a fan?”

“No,” agreed Matt. “But I think, I know, he cares about Foggy.” How could anyone not? He added in his own head.

“Okay,” said Claire softly slipping out of the room.

Matt reached around pretending to look for the chair and sat down heavily. Wondering for the thousandth time, if Foggy, all his friends, wouldn’t have been better off if they’d never met him.

Karen stood by Foggy brushing some hair out of his face. “You know,” she said slowly. “You never like the people Foggy dates.”

Matt felt his own heartbeat jump at that. “Barnes is not dating Foggy,” he stated.

Karen shrugged and then said, “Sorry I shrugged. I meant, maybe not yet but they might be headed that way, don’t you think?”

Matt pushed the thought away and refused to examine it. “That’s up to Foggy I guess.”

Karen seemed a little lost in her own thoughts, letting her voice carry on without much input from her brain. Adrenaline crash, Claire was right she probably needed to sleep. “You don’t like Marci, or that guy from college you were telling me about. Or the ‘girl from Punjabi class’…”

“Marci is unlikable by choice,” argued Matt. “She puts a lot of work into it, and is quite proud of it. I don’t even think Foggy _likes_ her.”

Karen chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed, they didn’t talk for a few minutes just happy to be with Foggy and each other. Which left Matt to his own thoughts. Just because Matt never really likes the people Foggy dates just means that Foggy has crappy taste in romantic partners. 

Not that Matt is jealous and acting like a lovesick hormonal teenager and needs to get a grip and move on and can the voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Stick just shut up please?

Or then again maybe not, because that leaves space for the voice that sounds like his grandma to calmly point out that the Murdock boys have the Devil in them and Matt could hurt (has hurt) Foggy more than anyone else can.

“Come on,” said Matt eventually. “We should go, before Claire comes to chase us out. Home for you.”

Karen got up and kissed Foggy on the forehead, she linked her arm with Matt’s but more for her own sake than Matt’s so Matt lets it go. She sighed and said softly. “When I met you two I thought you were both crazy.”

“Could be true,” agreed Matt.

“Then I got to know you and, maybe I thought…” she trailed off, dropping her head onto Matt’s shoulder. “But no. Nelson and Murdock, before anything else. As it should be.”

Matt can’t respond around the sudden lump in his throat but Karen doesn’t seem to be looking for a response. He makes sure she gets home okay, ignoring her protests as she can’t stop yawning. Then Daredevil goes to look for Mr Bradshaw.

**

Foggy looked small. So small and pale, lying on the stark white sheets of the hospital bed. This was… horribly familiar, watching a friend fight something on a level you couldn’t even touch, let alone help with. It called up old broken memories of long ago. Times when Steve was sick, asthma or something worse, and all ‘Bucky’ could do was scrape together money he didn’t have to try to pay for the medication that could, maybe, god please, help.

“Visiting hours are over,” said a woman from the doorway. James – Jamie - Bucky, whoever the hell he was now didn’t reply. “You must be ‘Jamie’,” she stated flatly. “I’ll have a word with security; no-one will bother you. But I imagine the Daredevil will be along soon. If you two fight in my hospital I will find a way to kick both your asses. Understood?” 

She sighed heavily and turned to leave. “Thank you,” he said softly.

She hesitated. “Foggy’s a good guy, I’ve only met him a couple of times, usually while stitching his best friend up. But he makes me laugh. Don’t wake him, he needs the sleep.” 

He listened to her footsteps echo down the corridor. “You get all that?” he asked the shadow in the far corner.

“Yeah,” said the Daredevil as he stepped forward. “No fighting in the hospital, got it. I take it you couldn’t find Bradshaw either?”

Barnes shook his head. “He’s in the wind, maybe not quite as stupid as I took him for. Clark’s gone too; maybe someone ‘helped’ them out of town?”

Daredevil stood near the bed but still an arm’s length away. Staring at Foggy, it was a little creepy to know that it was a blind stare. Barnes reached over and pulled the other chair over towards the bed.

“The weird brood you’ve got going on is wasted on me you know? I see scarier things than you every time I close my eyes. Sit down, I won’t tell anyone.”

Daredevil hesitated for a second then dropped heavily into the chair and pulling the cowl off his face. Barnes had to wonder for a second why he bothered. It couldn’t make any difference to him surely? They sat in silence for a long while before Matt broke it.

“When I was a kid there was a guy who taught me how to be this,” he said holding his hand out and forming it into a fist. “He told me that I had to be a soldier. That anyone beside me could fall in the war that was coming. He told me that things like friendship made you soft. If I’d listened Foggy wouldn’t be here.”

Barnes snorted. “He was an idiot. I was nothing but a weapon for a long time. _Trust me_ that is no thing to be.”

“I dragged Foggy into this, this whole life,” protested Murdock. “I had to save the world and… I was too selfish to do it without Foggy. You were right I didn’t even tell him. He found me bleeding and half dead before I came clean.”

“He would be throwing himself at lost causes with or without you,” disagreed Barnes. “You’re just the one he picked, don’t you dare undermine that choice. He’s a good man, that’s rare.”

“I’m a lost cause?” asked Murdock, a weird unhappy smile playing on his face.

“Aren’t we all,” replied Barnes with a weary sigh.

“Foggy wouldn’t think so,” replied Murdock.

Barnes found himself nodding. “It’s the good ones that mess you up, every time. Make you want to be something you’re not even sure you can be.”

“There’s something going on,” said Murdock. “We will find out what it is,” he turned the blank stare on Barnes. “All of us, together. Okay?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy comes home.

This really wasn’t what Barnes had expected. He’d sat in the hospital looked Daredevil straight in the face and agreed that they were going to get the bad guys. Together. 

Unfortunately real life is not that simple. There were no bad guys to go get, Bradshaw and Clark were gone. LRE ltd had reverted back to normal daytime dealings, with no hint it was ever involved in anything else. All they had was this big Russian company ‘Kronos’ that was buying up large shares of small – apparently unrelated – companies in Hell’s Kitchen over the last year. It was a bit odd, but not illegal. Foggy had to spend two days in the hospital, Murdock and Karen were pouring over the public records of each acquisition looking for something suspicious, and Barnes… was not much help. 

He guessed that this was the sort of thing that usually happened when he’d been in cryogenic suspension. He tried to think back before that, but in even those memories he’d still been a soldier. He’d been given an order, a mission, an objective, and been told to get it done. Back then who exactly the enemy was hadn’t ever been in doubt. And the Winter Soldier hadn’t even thought to ask. 

Karen banned him from the office four hours into the first day. Murdock just smiled wryly and said, “I guess this isn’t your strong suit. Maybe you could find out something around the docks? You know people there?” But no-one is talking to Barnes. Not now, they don’t know what went down, but they know it was something they don’t want to be involved in. Barnes doesn’t blame them. If he cared about getting work he’d be worried, no-one is likely to hire him in a while. A couple of the thick headed try to earn themselves some brownie points, with who Barnes doesn’t even think they know, by taking him on but they are easily dealt with. 

This guy Barnes has actually worked with a couple of times, at various construction jobs around the city. He’s a great big mountain of a man, scar across his face and more around his knuckles. The kind of guy who’s been fighting all his life, he actually reminded Barnes of Dum-Dum Dugan from the Howling Commandos in the war. The flash of memory was so sudden that the other man actually managed to get a good punch into Barnes’ face, causing his nose to bleed and his eyes to water. The shock caused Barnes to stagger back and reflexively swing his own fist round into the larger man’s stomach. Unfortunately it was his metal fist which was probably overkill. The other man staggered back and slumped to the floor. Barnes hung back and waited, the man groaned and said, “Shit, what the hell have you got in that glove man?”

Barnes hesitated and then pulled off his glove to show him the metal hand. 

“Hell of a prosthetic,” the man said weakly, moving into a sitting position against the alley wall. “You a veteran?”

“Yes,” said Barnes hanging back out of arms range warily. He knew that much about himself at least.

The other guy just nodded. “You should get the hell out of town, friendly advice.”

“Why would that be?” asked Barnes.

“People are asking about you, the man with a metal arm,” said the man on the floor. “Don’t bother asking me who, that ain’t the kind of question I ask. You know how it works.”

“You likely to tell them about me?” asked Barnes keeping his voice as blank as possible.

“Screw ‘em,” said the man with feeling. “I got no need to be involved in that kinda shit. You’re decent enough, and they’re smarmy foreign buggers. The money’s not that good.”

“You gonna be okay?” asked Barnes.

“Sure. It’ll take more’n you, Sonny,” replied the man. Barnes let him have that and left. Watching from the shadows to make sure he got home okay.

**

Foggy was more than happy to get the hell out of the hospital, he let Claire watch him as he lowered himself into the obligatory wheelchair. “This really necessary?” he asked her. “I mean normally my doctor is telling me I need to get _more_ exercise.”

Claire bent down making sure his feet were properly in the rests. “Hospital policy and insurance requirement,” she said with a smile. “Wouldn’t want you falling over on the way out and hogging one of our beds for another three days, would we?”

Foggy grinned back as she stood. “You are so going to miss me, I can tell, no matter how much you try to hide it!”

Matt and Karen walked into the ward. “My hero!” exclaimed Foggy. Wheeling himself over to them. “Save me from this terrible confinement!”

Claire followed him trying to hold in her grin. “No, save us from the torment of moaning Minnie over here.”

Foggy effected an exaggerated expression of shock. “How dare you! I have born my hardship with nothing but grace!”

“You complained about the food and taught Mrs O’Connell dirty limericks,” smirked Claire. Karen giggled into her hand, and Matt let loose with one of his brilliant smiles. Foggy was very glad to see it. Matt and Karen had been so stressed and sombre the last couple of days.

“Firstly, your food is objectively terrible. Secondly, Mrs O’Connell taught them to _me_ , I was the innocent party, and you cannot prove otherwise!” argued Foggy.

“Yes, counsellor,” replied Claire. “Now, I’ve explained the painkillers, and you have someone at home to watch you for a few days? Yes?” She gave all three of them the stink-eye.

“Yes ma’am,” said Matt with a cheeky grin. “He got a… friend staying with him for a few days.”

Foggy frowned a little at Matt’s hesitation before the word ‘friend’. Matt had explained that Jamie was lying low at Foggy’s due to the word being out about a ‘man with a metal arm’ which hopefully no-one had connected with ‘Barnes from the docks’ (which probably meant Matt was doing all the lawyering and all the Daredeviling by himself and not getting any sleep, and the worry in Foggy never really went away anymore did it?). But he thought Matt and Jamie had come to some kind of truce, even if they were never going to be best of friends. 

They said their goodbyes to Claire and Karen wheeled him out of the hospital, Matt carrying his bag. Once out of the building Foggy asked for a drumroll and Karen rolled her eyes with a smile. Matt put a hand to his mouth and gave a nasal, “Do-do-do!”. Foggy stood and gave them a deep bow, having to grab for Matt’s arm when he stood as it made him feel dizzy. Karen called them dorks and they bundled Foggy into the waiting taxi. Wedged in-between Matt and Karen Foggy felt as if all was right with the world. At least for the ride home anyway.

Foggy entered his apartment with a loud, “Honey, I’m home!” which was practically compulsory in these situations. But he felt Matt tense at the words (Matt was holding his arm as if Foggy was guiding him, but in reality in was probably so Matt could monitor his pulse or something. Matt was secretly a terrible mother hen) it made Foggy worry some more, had Matt and Jamie fallen out again?

“Hey,” said Jamie coming out of the kitchenette. “Well you look less shit.”

Foggy grinned. “You old sweet talker you!” he said.

“We’ve got to go,” said Karen sadly. “We’ve found a little company that Kronos tried to buy shares in a few months ago, up they fought Kronos off. We’ve got a meeting with the owner.”

“What do they do?” asked Foggy. “I could…”

“Nope,” said Matt. “You have to rest, Claire’s orders. I don’t like to argue with Claire.”

Foggy snorted at that.

“Stay here. Barnes… Jamie, can catch you up,” said Matt, giving them a quick smile and then practically _running_ out the door (Foggy didn’t think most people would notice, but he was a graduate in Murdock body language. Matt was acting odd). Karen smiled, kissed Foggy on the cheek and followed Matt out.

“Right,” said Foggy, turning to Jamie. “Let’s get me caught up.”

“Or you could sit down on the sofa, eat what I cooked for you, and then I’ll explain what’s going on. Okay?” suggested Jamie.

“You can cook?” asked Foggy wincing at the unflattering surprise in his voice and letting Jamie lead him over to the sofa.

“Hey, my mother raised me right,” objected Jamie with a smile in his voice.

Foggy frowned at the pile of blankets by the sofa. “You haven’t been sleeping on the sofa of doom have you?”

“Not while you were in the hospital,” said Jamie heading back to the kitchenette. “But you’re back now.”

“Right,” said Foggy, thinking he really wouldn’t mind sleeping (just sleeping! Or whatever) with Jamie again but this time he wasn’t drunk and it was awkward to bring up.

Jamie came back in carrying two plates, after hospital food whatever it was smelled amazing. “I need to tell you some stuff,” said Jamie looking wary. “About me. About what I did before I got here. I had to tell Murdock a few days ago and I told him he could tell Karen, but… I wanted you to hear it from me.” He sighed heavily, not looking at Foggy. Foggy really wanted to hug him, but he just took his plate and waited for Jamie to talk. Jamie sat on the chair rather than next to Foggy on his crappy sofa. “If you want me to leave after you know then… that’s okay.

Foggy wanted to say it would be okay no matter what but he knows the world doesn’t work like that. “Okay,” he said instead, trying to infuse his words with support. “Tell me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should apologise for this chapter, it's a bit of a transition chapter to catch everyone up and I nearly scrapped it and folded it into the next one. But I like some of the details in it so... anyway. Hope it didn't break the flow too much.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy and Jamie watch Star Wars.

They actually ate before Jamie started talking. Which Foggy regretted bitterly because the whole thing made him feel sick to his stomach. That people, lots of people over so many years, could keep doing things like that over and over to another person. To Jamie. It was horrifying and awful and it’s not like Foggy had thought Hydra were _good_ people, they were remembered by history as the bogeymen to the freaking _Nazi’s_ , but it seemed unthinkable. He must have been quiet for too long because Jamie moved to put his plate on the coffee table and said quietly, “I meant it. I’ll go if you want me too.”

“No!” said Foggy quickly, too loud. “Are you crazy? You’ve seen Hydra symbols around and now someone is out looking for a ‘man with a metal arm’? You need to stay well out of sight, and safe.”

“Were you listening?” asked Jamie sounding frustrated. “I _killed_ people, lots of people. I helped something truly evil nearly take over the world. They hollowed me out and poured in something else and now I don’t even know if there’s any me left or if it’s just some left over phantom pain personality. I can’t even trust the things I remember and I… god… I…” Jamie trailed off, sounding so _tired_ that Foggy could honestly weep.

Foggy walked over to the chair, crouching next to it. He ignored the soreness in his torso and spoke slowly, choosing his words with as much care as he ever had in the courtroom. “When we first met, you saved me from the guys attacking me. Do you remember?” Foggy waited for a response, it took a long time but he knew it was important he got it.

Jamie nodded his head turned away from Foggy a little.

“Why did you do that?” asked Foggy. Waiting again, this response took just as long and Foggy was really starting to _hurt_ crouched on floor like this. He realised he was due his next dose of painkillers.

“You were being a little shit,” said Jamie eventually smiling a little his face still turned away. “Mouthing back to them, it reminded me of this guy I used to know. He wouldn’t think it was right, three guys picking on somebody smaller than them. He always used to fight back. Didn’t matter that he always lost, had to stand and fight, he said. Or you’d always be running.”

Foggy smiled. “Sounds more like Matt than me.” That made Jamie look at him and Foggy ceased the opportunity. “ _That’s_ you. I doubt very much Hydra would put something like that in there.” Jamie shook his head but Foggy pushed on. “I don’t know you very well yet, we’ve only been friends a few months, but I know you’re _somebody_. You’re not responsible for being _abused_ for 70 years, James.”

Jamie shook his head again. “It wasn’t like that…”

“It was,” said Foggy firmly. “You don’t have to… ouch… ah.” He finally had to give into the pain looping in bands around his chest.

“Jesus!” exclaimed Jamie. “Why the hell did you get down there?” He helped Foggy up and back onto the sofa.

“It’s fine,” replied Foggy. “I’m just overdue my painkillers, in the bag.”

Jamie went and got them, cursing Foggy under his breath the whole way. He came back with the pills and a glass of water which Foggy dutifully took. Jamie looked a little lost now he had nothing pro-active to do.

“I think you should sit down so I can hug you,” said Foggy feeling his heart race in his chest. 

“I don’t need that…” said Jamie hesitantly.

“I might,” admitted Foggy feeling open and raw. God only knew how Jamie was feeling. 

Jamie sat next to him awkwardly and Foggy wrapped his arms round the other man. Jamie didn’t hug back so Foggy pulled away, not wanting to make his friend feel uncomfortable. Jamie pulled him back in, hugging Foggy and settling them into the couch, taking care of Foggy’s bruises. They sat like that for a while.

“You know,” said Foggy eventually. “Cuddling with a hot guy on my couch should feel more like a win.”

Jamie chuckled and Foggy could feel it rumble up through Jamie and into him. “Feels pretty much like a win to me.” He paused for a little while before he carried on. “I know what Hydra did wasn’t right, but I don’t know how much they added, and how much was already in me.” Foggy opened his mouth to speak but Jamie carried on. “No, let me finish please? I… don’t know if I can even be the person I was before, or if I can be someone else of if… I’m just too damaged to be anyone now. It’s not something we can fix tonight but… thanks. For making it seem like I can at least try.”

“Your welcome,” said Foggy his mouth dry, not knowing what else to say. 

They detangled and Jamie got up to take the dirty plates and cups away. When he came back he sat right next to Foggy which made Foggy smile a little bit. They put the TV on, Foggy flicked through the channels until he found a showing of Star Wars. “Cool,” he announced to the room.

“What’s this?” asked Jamie.

Foggy nearly choked. “You haven’t seen Star Wars! I mean I guess I can see how you wouldn’t but… _everyone_ has seen Star Wars!”

They watched the film, Foggy chipping in with comments to make Jamie laugh. Because he’d kinda got used to narrating through films for Matt in college when they couldn’t get audio descriptive versions. And because he liked the sound. A lot.

Jamie went quiet though when it ended, Foggy poked him with his finger. “Hey, if you liked that there’s two sequels. And three prequels I’m not telling you about.”

“I just… I missed a lot,” said Jamie sadly. “I guess I feel a bit…”

“Broken, like you don’t fit?” asked Foggy. “Matt said something like that once in college when everyone was raving about a TV show he was never going to be able to watch. He never got down about being blind, just… a little sad sometimes.”

“Yeah,” said Jamie almost to himself. “Broken.”

“Broken isn’t so bad you know. Lots of people are broken. I kinda am. Matt definitely is, in ways that have _nothing_ to do with the blind thing…”

“I was a weapon,” said Jamie unhappily. “Nothing but a tool for someone else to use, now I’m broken. What use is a broken weapon to anyone?”

Foggy felt his heart break some more. “I don’t have much use for weapons anyway. And I want you around.”

“A pen then, what do you do with a broken pen? You throw them away, no good to anyone.”

Foggy frowned. “Well, not any more. Now I’m going to keep them, seriously, I’m going to have a nice safe little drawer in my desk where they can live out the rest of their pen lives and work out what they want to be next.”

Jamie chuckled but it still managed to sound sad. Foggy leaned his shoulder into Jamie’s.

“You’re not a pen, or a weapon, or anything like that,” he said, willing Jamie to hear the sincerity into his voice.

“Yeah?” asked Jamie. “What am I then?” 

“You’re my friend. You brought me milk to replace what you made me drink so I could have a slightly better hangover. You infuriate Matt without even trying and, God forgive me, I find that kinda funny. You eat rice krispies without sugar, weirdo. You are completely confused by modern day cartoons, which is adorable. And I totally just got to take your Star Wars virginity. Karen thinks you’re kind of a dick, but that’s only because she met you on a bad day. You’ll like her, everyone does. And I think she’ll like you, when she gets to properly meet you. You. James Barnes. Are more than anybody made you to be.”

“Buchanan,” said Jamie quietly.

“What?” asked Foggy not understanding. 

“James Buchanan Barnes, people called me Bucky,” Jamie looked over at Foggy like he held some kind of answer. Foggy couldn’t help but panic a little, he felt like a wrong answer here would be terribly bad.

“Please to meet you Bucky… hang on… _Bucky Barnes_ , as in Captain America and Bucky Barnes? Man, we learned about you in school. I had to do an _essay_ on the Howling Commandos.”

“…Sorry?” said Jamie (or oh god _Bucky Barnes_ ) “Did you get a good grade?”

“C minus,“ admitted Foggy with a shrug. “It’s possible my high school history teacher hated me. Or I hated her. We had issues either way.” Jamie chuckled and Foggy suddenly got it. “Wait _that’s_ the person you’re afraid you can’t be anymore? Wow.”

“Yeah,” agreed Jamie. “Doesn’t help that ‘Bucky’s’ best friend is looking for me, expecting me to be that guy and I can barely live up to ‘Jamie’.”

“Do you want me stop calling you that?” asked Foggy, aiming for nonchalant by missing by a mile.

“No,” said Jamie quickly. “I like it. I like when _you_ do it,” he admitted. 

Jamie suddenly kissed him, and it was nice. Warm, and chaste, and really lovely. Over in a heartbeat before Foggy could really process what was going on.

“Sorry,” said Jamie. “I’m sorry, I… and you’re hurt. And I… sorry.”

Foggy remembered their first meeting. Jamie had shook his hand like he might accidently break it off. “I’m not gonna break,” said Foggy softly. “ _You’re_ not going to break me.”

“You don’t know that, I could,” said Jamie, looking painfully young.

“I could break you,” argued Foggy. “Hell, your mostly hanging by a thread right now. I could destroy you with a couple of well-placed words. I’m a lawyer, that’s what we do. I won’t. Neither will you. We’re good.” He hoped Jamie believed him.

This time Foggy kissed him. 

This wasn’t nice, or chaste. Although it was warm. Foggy _pushed_ kissing Jamie with everything he had and not holding back. He had both hands on Jamie’s face and every part of him was as close to every part of Jamie as he could get it. He wanted… he wanted… to be able to protect _something_. Everything kept getting harder and more complicated and Foggy was just dragged along, but this he could do. He could give this, and get this as well.

Foggy was the first to pull away, made himself. They stayed close, breathing each other air for a moment. Until Jamie put his hands over Foggy’s and gently moved them away.

“You should go to bed, and I should sleep on the couch,” he said carefully, still holding Foggy’s hands in his own.

“No,” said Foggy, feeling stubborn, and a bit selfish. (Was this selfish?). “I told you no-one _should_ sleep on this couch.”

“You’re hurt, we’re both emotional, you’re so obviously in love with someone else, and you’re… a boy whose eyes are too pretty,” said Jamie.

“Does that work often when you’re trying to get people not to sleep with you?” asked Foggy.

“Foggy,” said Jamie and his voice was deep and rough and a little bit pleading. “You need to go.” But he was still holding Foggy’s hands and he was moving in again.

“Only if you come with me,” said Foggy as their lips met again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have done writing instead of sleeping. (I'm sorry if this is full of mistakes I will check it again when I get back from work. I need to post it so I can stop messing with it and actually go to work...)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.

Matt knew as he knocked on the door that it was going to be a bad day, he woken up with a headache brewing right behind his left eye. He waited for a little while but there was no answer, as he knocked again he listened for Foggy’s heartbeat, ignoring the Foggy-voice in his head that told him it was creepy. He was not creepy, concerned friend is not the same as ‘creepy’. Foggy’s heartbeat was steady, at rest. Somewhere towards the back of the apartment, probably bedroom, right next to another heartbeat. Another steady at rest heartbeat (Barnes), and they were close enough that it took a split second to separate them. 

Okay, spying on Foggy and whoever he was in bed with (Barnes, Barnes, _Barnes_ ) was a bit creepy, Matt had to admit. One of the heartbeats was starting to wake up. Matt knocked on the door again, because he was on time damnit and he wasn’t going away to come back again. It had nothing to do with wanting one of those heartbeats to move away from the other. 

_”Sure, Kid. You are a shitty liar. Even to yourself.”_

__Great, because the Stick voice in his head was just what this situation needed right now._ _

_”No what this situation needs, is you to be less of a pussy.”_

__The Stick-voice was, if anything, worse than the real thing._ _

__Barnes opened the door. Matt guessed from body heat that he was shirtless. Which would explain why he’d angled his body to keep the metal arm hidden behind the door, but Matt could hear the faint buzz of the motors whirring. It was such a distinct sound; he figured he’d always associate it with Barnes now._ _

__“Come on in,” said Barnes, voice still rough from sleep. “He’s sleeping.”_ _

__“You didn’t sleep on the couch,” stated Matt._ _

__“No,” replied Barnes. “You want cereal?”_ _

__“I brought bagels,” said Matt holding up the bag. Forcing himself not to ask what happened. He knew what happened. He could smell it, which he was willing to concede _was_ creepy._ _

__“I’ll stick to the cereal thanks,” said Barnes idly._ _

__“Is that Matt? Hey, Matt,” said Foggy coming out of his bedroom. Heartbeat relaxed, voice warm and calm. Matt felt like a bad person for hating how _happy_ his friend seemed right now. Foggy caught sight of the bag and made a beeline over to Matt. “Oh man, you brought bagels. Matty I swear down you are my favourite human being!”_ _

__Matt tried really, really hard not to send a smug look in Barnes general direction. But judging by the amused snort that came from Barnes he failed. He moved the bag out of Foggy’s grasp. “Erm… you should probably shower first…” he said wondering how blunt he could be about the fact they both smelled of sex and each other and it was driving Matt crazy. Not _jealous_ crazy, just concerned about my friend who is sleeping with a man I don’t trust crazy._ _

__What the Stick-voice had to say about that was unrepeatable._ _

__Foggy was quiet for a moment then his heartbeat ticked up slightly as the realisation set in. “Oh… okay… that’s…”_ _

__“Creepy,” said Matt preempting what Foggy was going to say. “I know… I can’t help it.”_ _

__“No, I was going to say it was gross for you man. I’m sorry, I will shower, then Jamie will shower, then we will eat delicious bagels,” said Foggy heading off towards the bathroom._ _

__All that was left was the crunch of Barnes eating cereal. Matt knew the other man was staring at him, but Matt was determined not to be the first to break. He went and sat in the lounge area, with his back to Barnes._ _

__Barnes chuckled and the crunch of cereal and whir of motors followed Matt and settled itself into the nearby chair._ _

__**_ _

__Foggy showered, feeling a little mortified. It wasn’t like Matt had walked in on them or anything, but it almost felt like that. (Plus he wasn’t really sure where he stood with Jamie now. They hadn’t had chance to talk and what if this was just a one-off? What if it _wasn’t_? Foggy had no idea what he wanted let alone what Jamie wanted.) He’d woken up in such a good mood but now all the doubts and what if’s where starting to set in._ _

__Foggy re-entered the lounge hair still damp from the shower, Jamie tipped his head back and smiled at him and Foggy couldn’t help but smile back. An uncomplicated smile from Jamie was worth its weight in gold. Jamie got up to head to the shower, squeezing Foggy’s hand with his flesh and blood one as he walked past._ _

__“Hope you didn’t use all the hot water,” he said with a smirk that did weird things to Foggy’s insides, particularly when the owner of it was half naked in Foggy’s lounge._ _

__“Saved you some conditioner too,” replied Foggy. “Your split ends are awful.”_ _

__Jamie chuckled, he kissed Foggy on the lips. Just a brush of softness and stubble, but it made Foggy’s heart jump a little._ _

__Matt coughed in a deliberate sort of way and Jamie let go of Foggy’s hand and moved on._ _

__Foggy clapped his hands together and sat next to Matt on the couch. “So bagels?”_ _

__Matt handed the bag over. He had that sad smile on his face that meant he wanted to say something but didn’t think he was allowed, or if it was his place, or some other Matt-type obstacle his subconscious had talked him into._ _

__“Out with it Murdock,” said Foggy, pulling the bagel out of the bag._ _

__“It’s… none of my business, Foggy. I…” Matt paused and Foggy waited him out. “You know I’ll beat him up if he hurts you, yeah?”_ _

__Foggy didn’t quite know how to respond to that. It wasn’t unprecedented, Matt had threatened bodily harm on most of the people Foggy dated in college if they ever hurt Foggy, usually in the same jokey tone he was using now. (Except for that one time. Matt had just sounded angry then, that was when Foggy first really _understood_ about Matt’s temper.) But the joke was a lot less funny now that Foggy knew Matt could actually do it. (Or actually try, he’s not sure if Matt could hurt Jamie. Physically anyway). “I think I’m much more likely to hurt him,” replied Foggy in the end, going for honesty. “He’s kinda been through a lot.” It was a horrible understatement._ _

__“You wouldn’t hurt a fly,” said Matt, his voice full of certainty and warmth, but the sad smile still very much in place._ _

__“Of course not,” said Foggy changing the subject and digging into his bagel. “Have you ever actually _tried_ to hurt a fly. They are fast little buggers…”_ _

__There was a knock at the door. “That’s Karen,” said Matt._ _

__Foggy groaned and got up to answer it. “Go on then, how’d you know that?”_ _

__Matt paused, like he wasn’t sure he should answer. Foggy knew that it was his fault for the way he’d reacted when he’s found out about Matt’s senses. But it was all tied up in _Daredevil_ and being lied to and it had been a lot to take in._ _

__“Go on, Murdock,” he teased. “Astound me.”_ _

__Gentle teasing nearly always worked on Matt, he smirked. “Heartbeat, the sound her heels make on the floor…”_ _

__“Isn’t that the same for anyone in heels though?” asked Foggy, pausing on his trip to the door._ _

__“Height and weight make a difference to the sound,” shrugged Matt. “And the… rhythm you walk with can often be different from person to person.” The knock came again. “You should hurry up, she’s getting annoyed.”_ _

__“Heartbeat, right,” said Foggy, heading to the door. He opened it and of course it was Karen on the other side._ _

__“Hey,” she said gently. “How are you?” She looked him up and down not so subtly checking there were no visible injuries that had appeared overnight._ _

__“Ah, you know me,” said Foggy, holding the door to let her through. “Toughest lawyer in all of Hell’s Kitchen. I shall never be defeated!”_ _

__Karen chuckled and headed into the lounge, she settled on the chair, just as Jamie came in from the shower. Fully dressed and his hair was still wet, pulled up with one of the hair ties that Foggy kept in the bathroom. He pushed a box of pills and a glass of water into Foggy’s hands._ _

__“Time for your painkillers,” he said._ _

__Foggy winced. “I feel fine.”_ _

__“You won’t be saying that in a couple of hours, punk. Come on, doctors’ orders,” argued Jamie._ _

__“I’ll tell Claire,” agreed Matt._ _

__Foggy took two of the pills. “Ganging up on me, not sure I’m loving that.”_ _

__Karen just laughed, the traitor._ _

__There was no other chair in the lounge so Foggy ended up slightly squashed between Matt and Jamie. This would have been much more pleasant if he hadn’t been jammed up against Jamie’s metal arm. Jamie noticed and draped his arm across the back of the couch behind Foggy. If Foggy leant into the warmth of Jamie’s body then he was blaming the painkillers. He was also blaming the painkillers for him imagining the little huffing noise that Matt made and that he moved closer to Foggy in response. Jamie didn’t chuckle deep in his throat and Karen didn’t give Foggy the most amused and knowing look that he’d ever seen on her face. Nope, the couch was just small and uncomfortable. Matt probably just shifted to try and settle._ _

__“Right,” said Karen. “This is everything me and Matt managed to find out about Kronos over the last couple of days.”_ _


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's past catches up with him, or at least part of it...

Barnes listened to Karen talk. He knew most of it already. Kronos was a Russian company, they were buying up large shares in small companies all over Hell’s Kitchen and then using those companies to move ‘goods’ through, presumably to make them harder to track. ‘Goods’ that included old Hydra tech. Barnes tried not to think about that too much. What they might have. Could it be those machines that had destroyed and rebuilt him over and over again? From the other side of Foggy Murdock turned his head toward Barnes, tipped it to the side slightly, like he was listening. Barnes focused on keeping his heartbeat steady, Murdock frowned a little. 

“So what about the guy that wouldn’t sell?” Foggy asked Karen, seemingly unaware of the silent conversation going on over his head. “You and Matt went to see him yesterday?”

Karen frowned. “His name is Gerald Jones; he had a visit from the CEO of Kronos and changed his mind. He just kept gushing about how much business Kronos could send his way.”

Foggy sat forward. “The CEO of the whole company just turned up to talk to this guy? He came all the way from Russia?”

“He’s apparently in town for something else, Jones didn’t know what,” clarified Matt. “He said it was something about a ‘lost asset’, I don’t think Lukin told him anything.”

_Lukin_. The name stuck in Barnes head like toothache. He _knew_ that name. But where the hell from? “Lukin?” he asked raising an eyebrow at Karen.

“Aleksander Lukin,” said Karen. “Late fifties, built Kronos up from nothing, ex-KGB but we can’t find anything about what he _did_ while he was there.”

“There wouldn’t be,” said Barnes going very stiff. He could feel his heartbeat rising, breathing getting shallower. This was panic and he had to choke it down. Wasn’t safe to lose it here, he could hurt someone.

“Jamie?” Foggy was turned to face him, concerned etched into every line of his face. Murdock was tensed, his hand hovering over Foggy’s arm, as if he was just itching to pull his friend out of the way. Karen shrank back into the chair, gaze darting between Foggy and Murdock.

Barnes sat forward, curling in on himself. “Lukin, Lukin is dangerous. You need to stay away,” Barnes laughed and even he could hear the desperate edge. “But you won’t will you? Any of you. Bloody heroes…”

“Jamie,” Foggy interrupted gently, laying an arm on top of Barnes metal arm. The warmth against the cool metal made Barnes flinch. “We can’t understand. You’re speaking Russian.” 

Barnes shot out of his seat so fast he knocked Foggy into Murdock. He found himself several steps away by the window before he’d really acknowledged he was moving. His heartbeat still pounding in his chest, images and memories crashing around in his head. It happened like this sometimes, a whole group of memories coming all at once, too fast. He sensed rather than saw movement behind him. Foggy going to get up and Murdock stopping him. Murdock got up instead and moved towards Barnes, his cane tapping on the floor. Putting himself between his friends and the threat. 

“Не подходи ближе. Пожалуйста,” Barnes said, it least he could tell he was speaking Russian this time. That was progress, right? He swallowed and concentrated on each word he wanted to say. “Don’t come any closer, please.”

Murdock stopped moving, but it was Foggy that spoke. “Jamie, you need to tell us what’s going on,”

Barnes wanted to tell him to stop calling him ‘Jamie’. He didn’t deserve that, but he couldn’t quite force the words out. Other ones spilled out instead. Thankfully still in English. “Lukin worked with Hydra, not for them, but with. He didn’t trust them, but they had things he needed. He was… ambitious. If they needed to do anything in Russia he was the one who arranged it. One of the things he got in return was… use of me. God, I didn’t remember any of this, not until I heard the name again.” Barnes held his head in his hands, willing the flow of images to stop.

“Use of you?” asked Murdock, voice careful and blank. 

“Assassinations,” replied Barnes his voice just as neutral. “Training. He started a programme called ‘The Red Room’. Jesus. They were just kids… Natalia...” 

“We can get him, we will, somehow…” said Foggy, looking to Murdock to back him up. Murdock nodded.

“What is wrong with you!” shouted Barnes. “I keep telling you what I was and you keep _ignoring_ it.”

Foggy looked shell shocked, Murdock shifted his weight slightly, ready for a fight as always. Karen cleared her throat. “You were what they made you. You’re not that now, right?”

Barnes had almost forgotten she was there. He looked at her and she held his gaze. Obviously scared but he eyes were fierce and clear. She meant what she was saying. “That’s what you think?” he asked, knowing the smile on his face wasn’t nice.

“I think if I want to move past the things I’ve done, I need to give everyone else the same chance,” she said slowly. “I’ll judge you on what you are now, if you do the same for me.”

It was more than he could handle. This trust, this second chance, from people who had no reason to give him anything. Steve wanted to help Barnes knew, but that came from their shared history. Where did this come from? And what was he supposed to do when it ran out? When they realised he wasn’t worth it. Barnes had to move, he almost ran out the door, hearing Foggy calling his name and Murdock telling Foggy to wait. He had to go, and go now, but he had no idea as to where.

**

Matt had to physically hold Foggy back. “Let him go,” he said to Foggy. “He’s got a lot of stuff to process.”

“People are _looking_ for him, Matt. Seriously not nice people!” argued Foggy. “He can have his meltdown here.”

“Foggy,” said Karen gently. “What would you do if you found him? I doubt any of us could drag him back if he doesn’t want to come.”

Foggy’s whole body slumped, but he glanced at Matt as if trying to assess Matt’s chances against Barnes. Matt couldn’t help but be a little offended deep down. He could absolutely take the stupid ‘Winter Soldier’. But the offense melted away in the face of how _defeated_ Foggy looked. Foggy, more than anyone Matt knew, didn’t like losing. And they were on the mat right now, without any clear course of action ahead of them.

“I’m going back to the office,” said Karen firmly as if expecting an argument. “Maybe I can find out some more about Lukin.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Foggy.

“Foggy, you’re still hurt…” started Matt, but Foggy interrupted.

“Don’t _you_ dare, Murdock,” he said. And what could Matt, the vigilante who went out to fight crime with cracked ribs and stiches say to that? Unfortunately Karen didn’t seem inclined to argue with Foggy either.

“I’ll meet you outside. There’s an old friend of Ben’s I want to try and call.” She left with her cell phone up to her ear.

“I’ll find him,” said Matt once Karen was gone. “Okay? I promise.”

“What if he doesn’t want to be found?” asked Foggy tiredly.

“I found him last time. And I know his heartbeat better now,” said Matt. “Plus the sound of his arm is pretty distinct. I’ll find him, bring him back, okay?”

“Thanks Matt,” said Foggy with a smile that made Matt’s heartbeat skip. “Be careful, yeah.”

“When am I not?” asked Matt, ignoring Foggy’s snort in reply.

_What is he to you Foggy?_ He didn’t ask. And he didn’t tell Foggy that he really wasn’t sure he _could_ find Barnes. The man had the steadiest heartbeat Matt had ever known. Tonight was the only time Matt had heard it react so dramatically to anything. That alone showed how rattled Barnes was. If he stayed in the city Matt could, maybe, find him. If he left, if he ran…

 

**

Foggy sat at his desk and stared unseeing at the laptop in front of him. He checked his phone for the hundredth time that hour. No messages from Matt, does that mean he hasn’t found Jamie yet? Or that he has found him and they are… fighting the bad guys… fighting each other… talking? Are they hurt? Captured? Foggy drops his face into his hands, he _hates_ this. He has no idea what is going on, can’t help, he’s nothing but useless. He heard the door open and the mumble of Karen greeting a walk-in client.

“Mr Nelson?” called Karen from the doorway to Foggy’s office.

That got Foggy’s attention; Karen never called him ‘Mr Nelson’. Not even in front of clients. He looked up Karen’s face was pale and her eyes were wide.

“There’s a Mr Lukin here to see you, he’s in the conference room,” Karen said model of professionalism, which was freaking Foggy out just as much as knowing that the guy who scared Jamie enough to make him run away was sat a room away.

“See if you can get hold of Mr Murdock please, Miss Page,” said Foggy, pushing his phone into Karen’s hand. The walls were thin in the office and it was more than likely that Lukin could hear them.

Foggy walked into the conference room and Lukin was sat the other side of the table. Older guy maybe in his late fifties, dark hair turning grey at the temples and peppering his goatee. His eyes were grey too, he smiled at Foggy and stood, leaning a little on a sliver topped cane as he did so. He held a hand out and Foggy shook it because he didn’t really have any other option.

“Good day, Mr Nelson,” he said with a very faint Russian accent. 

“Mr Lukin,” acknowledged Foggy as they sat back at the table. “How can we help you?”

“I’ll cut right to the chase, Mr Nelson,” said Lukin pleasantly. “Your firm has been very interested in my company’s dealings in Hell’s Kitchen. I was wondering why?”

Foggy smiled back just as pleasantly (just two guys having a polite chat, nothing to see here). “We are looking into the death of one your employee’s, a Mr Toby Munroe. His wife is suing the insurance company; they are refusing to pay out. We were merely doing some background research.”

“Merely,” Lukin repeated. His smile was still pleasant but now it had sharp edges. Foggy knew a shark when he saw one. “I have to say Mr Nelson, you and your partner are very through.”

“Thank you,” said Foggy. Not offering any more information. Lukin must want something, or else why would he be here?

“Let us talk hypotheticals for a moment, Mr Nelson,” said Lukin. “What if I could get Mr Munroe’s death re-classified as an accident? I believe that then Mrs Munroe would get her sorely needed insurance money, as well as compensation from my company. Mr Munroe was, as you are aware, an ‘off the books’ employee, so to speak, but in this case I could – hypothetically – be convinced we had a duty of care to Mrs Munroe. Not to mention that in this situation I might also be persuaded to move my interests out of Hell’s kitchen. Out of your back yard, as it were?”

“Why would you do that?” asked Foggy carefully.

“You and your partner have been quite annoying in your quest for justice, Mr Nelson. This would be a simple solution to get you out of my way, by me moving out of yours. Much less… messy than other options, don’t you think?” Lukin’s smile could hardly be called pleasant now.

“What could cause all this to happen, hypothetically?” asked Foggy his palms were sweating a bit and god knows what Matt would make of his heartbeat. But his voice was steady, he hoped anyway.

“I am looking to reacquire an asset,” said Lukin looking at Foggy carefully. “Something more valuable to me than a place in Hell’s kitchen.”

“Such as?” asked Foggy.

“A dangerous man with a metal arm, Mr Nelson. Perhaps you are… acquainted with such a person?” Lukin looked at Foggy expectantly. 

Foggy felt his heart stop. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone like that,” he lied, his expression hard. Lukin knows (he must know) that Foggy is lying.

Lukin stood. “A shame, but perhaps I should give you some time to think it over. It is really the easiest way for us to solve our problems. You are a clever man, Mr Nelson. A credit to your family I am sure. I know you Mother often speaks of you to her friends at the community centre. I shall see myself out. Give my regards to Miss Page.”

Foggy stood and followed Lukin out of the office despite what he had said. Once the man was gone Foggy felt the bile rise up in his throat. He needed to get in touch with Matt. This was getting worse. While they’d been looking at the monster, the monster had been looking back.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan begins to form...

Matt had lived with his temper all his life. He knew what was likely to set it off; he knew how to control it. For a given value of ‘control’ at least, but right now he felt so angry, angry and frustrated and helpless, and he could quite work out why.

He couldn’t find Barnes. That was part of it, he been listening all night. Hanging round the docks, known Kronos-related businesses, he’d circled the city three times and nothing. No heartbeat he could pick up, no tell-tale sounds of a metal arm, no whiff of the shampoo he’d borrowed from Foggy, nothing. Like Barnes was some sort of ghost. Had Barnes really skipped town? Got Foggy into all this trouble and then just left? Was that what was making Matt so mad, the thought that someone could just leave Foggy like that?

It wasn’t that, or at least not _just_ that. He’d taken down Fisk, now this ‘Lukin’ was moving straight into the space Fisk had left. And just like that nothing Matt had done really mattered. The devil had a new face. Matt wasn’t stupid, he knew sooner or later someone would try, he just… maybe he thought it would take longer. 

Maybe he was just tired.

He went back to his apartment, he needed to sleep or he wouldn’t be good for anything. But when he got there his phone was screeching Karen’s name at him. He answered it still in full costume. He felt more than a little ridiculous, the way he always did when the two sides of his life crossed over.

 _”That’s because it is ridiculous, Daredevil. Are you going to ride your rocket-cycle over the Grand Canyon? Will that help, or just get you killed?”_ Matt shook away the voice in his head. The one that sounded like a meaner version of Foggy.

“Matt!” said Karen as he answered relief in her voice. “Where have you been? We’ve been trying to get hold of you!”

Matt opened his mouth to answer but Karen interrupted. 

“Never mind you need to get here. We had a visit from Lukin…”

Matt could hear his own heartbeat, loud and speeding up, in his ears. “Are you both okay?”

Karen let out a deep breath. “We’re fine, he just wanted to talk to Foggy. But now Foggy is acting weird and I don’t know what to do…”

“I’m on my way,” said Matt firmly. “Don’t let Foggy leave until I get there, okay?”

**

Karen met him as he came through the office door. “Where the hell were you?” she asked.

“What’s going on with Foggy?” asked Matt instead of answering her.

Karen shook her head. “Lukin came here, he made a lot of not terribly subtle threats but he basically said he was willing to give Mrs Munroe money and pull all his business out of Hell’s Kitchen if we can give him ‘the man with the metal arm’.”

Matt felt the grin on his face spreading and he knew it probably wasn’t a nice one.

“That’s the same look Foggy got after he stopped panicking. Why the smiling?” asked Karen. “Matt he threatened Foggy’s _mom_ …”

Matt smile slipped a little at that, he moved past Karen and pushed the door open into Foggy’s office. Foggy was tapping away at his laptop.

“Give me one sec, Matty,” he asked round the pen he was chewing on. 

“He threatened your Mom?” asked Matt.

Foggy waved his hand in Matt’s general direction, never taking his eyes of the screen. “Yeah, I freaked out too. I called her; she’s staying at Cousin Derek’s till this blows over. I made her promise on the ghost of Taco Bill.” 

Matt nodded and Karen threw her hands up in despair. “Will someone please tell me what is going on?”

“Taco Bill was the family cat,” said Matt. He could hear Karen’s heartbeat rising in annoyance so he carried on. “And Cousin Derek is… um… security conscious.”

Foggy snorted. “He’s a nut Murdock. He has an actual ‘ _bunker_ ’ under his house. He once accused Matt of being a CIA spy.”

“He did apologise for that,” mumbled Matt, mostly to himself.

“Yeah well,” said Foggy finally looking up at Matt. “Maybe these days it doesn’t sound so crazy.” Foggy softened the statement with a small smile. “Did you find Jamie?”

Matt shook his head, not wanting to go into details with Karen there. Foggy sighed deeply.

“Lukin is looking for him too, Matt,” Foggy said looking so worried. Matt knew he was being hypocritical but he felt angry at Barnes for running away and making Foggy worry like that. No-one should put that look on Foggy’s face.

 _”You do,”_ pointed out the voice in his head that sounded like his grandmother.

“Do you think we could focus on the fact that Lukin knows who we are and is probably gunning for us right now?” asked Karen, folding her arms across her chest.

“Yep,” said Foggy happily. “He came all this way _personally_ to threaten a tiny law firm with hardly any power at all. What does that tell you?”

Karen just glared so Matt answered. “That he’s scared. He’s worried we do have something we can use against him.”

“And we do!” said Foggy happily. He tapped the computer screen. “After the whole ‘fall of SHIELD’ thing, the government released a whole load of new anti-terrorism laws that got rushed through. One of which makes it illegal to own, distribute, or hold any Shield or Hydra technology. Anything like that on American soil, legally belongs to the American government. And who do we know with a large stockpile of Hydra tech, moving it through Hell’s Kitchen via lots of little hard to trace companies?”

Matt frowned. “The warehouses Barnes saw have long since been cleaned out…”

“But _we know_ he’s still got the stuff. He couldn’t risk moving the stuff out of Hell’s Kitchen right now. All we have to do is find it and tip off the authorities. If we’re lucky all Lukin’s links to Hydra will come out and he’ll have to answer for all that too,” Foggy said with a vicious joy in his voice. 

“Right,” said Karen. “So what, we pull the records of the companies Kronos has buying up, see if we can work out where he’s likely to have sent the technology he’s got?” she asked.

Foggy opened his mouth to speak but Matt interrupted. “Tomorrow. Right now we all need some sleep. It’s late, and we can’t do anything about it until morning anyway.”

There was some argument but Karen eventually agreed, although she insisted on going home. Matt convinced her to let them pay for a taxi. He made sure she was in it safely then headed back up to the office where Foggy was still working.

“Foggy,” he said softly.

“I don’t want to go home, Murdock,” Foggy said shaking his head. “I need to _do_ something.”

“Barnes can take care of himself,” said Matt carefully. “He’s a grown man, Foggy. He probably needs some space.”

Foggy stopped shuffling papers and hung his head, avoiding looking Matt in the face. “He’s scared Matt, and he’s all on his own. And you didn’t hear Lukin talk about him. Like he wasn’t even a person just some kind of… tool to be owned. The look in his eyes, Matt, it was horrible.”

Matt swallowed round the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find him, Foggy.” 

Foggy shook his head. “It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours either,” countered Matt. “He’ll come back; I can’t imagine anyone could leave you for very long. Look if he comes back on his own he’s likely to go to your apartment first, right?” 

Foggy sighed. “Right.”

Matt managed to get Foggy out of the door, and they walked the few blocks to Foggy’s apartment. Matt took Foggy’s arm for Foggy to lead him out of habit but it was good to feel the warmth of Foggy under his hand. He hoped it was a comfort for Foggy too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait for this chapter. Life was in the way, stupid life! Next chapters should come a little quicker now :-)


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky finds Lukin, and a surprise, at a hotel outside Hell's Kitchen.

Barnes lay on the rooftop opposite the hotel. It was a little way outside Hell’s Kitchen and it was very nice indeed. He looked through the scope on his rifle into the suite of one Aleksander Lukin. He focused on his heartbeat. The trick to waiting like this was to be calm. Steady heartbeat and slow breathing, wait for your chance then take it. He wasn’t going back to the life he’d been forced into, and he wasn’t going to let people he cared for be hurt because of that decision. He spared a fleeting though to whether or not Foggy would understand that. Foggy was not a soldier. But then he squashed the thought. Now was not the time for doubts or second guessing. 

A man walked into Barnes sights, Barnes trigger finger tightened slightly. But the man was not Lukin. Barnes relaxed that half a millimetre and just watched. The man had his back to the window, he was black, had very short hair, and was well built, about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He was talking to someone else further in the room, gesturing with his left hand. The other person walked into view, Lukin, but there was nothing Barnes could do with other people there. There was another man standing next to Lukin. Tall, closer to 6 foot, blonde, Bucky felt his heartbeat rising despite his efforts to keep it under control. That was Steve. Steve Rogers standing next to Aleksander Lukin, Bucky focused on Steve’s face. All healed now, no bruising left from when Bucky had pounded it with his metal fist over and over again. Still alive, despite the Winter Soldiers best efforts. He _remembered_ the expression on Steve’s face right now. The crease between the eyes on an otherwise sunny expression. He didn’t like Lukin, but was trying to hide it. He looked over the other man’s shoulder and Bucky’s suddenly racing heart stopped dead. Steve had seen something. Too far to see Bucky, maybe, but a flash of light reflected off the arm, some small movement, something. Because he shouted and pushed the shorter man away from the window. Bucky ran. He left the gun and just ran. He was long gone before Steve got to his position. 

Because as much as the thought of Hydra catching up to him scared him. Steve scared him more.

**

Matt took Foggy home then headed back to his own apartment. He knew who was in there before he opened the door. He could hear the tell-tale sound of the motors in Barnes arm. He opened the door and rounded the corner into the living area. To Matt Barnes was a dull red, flickering, lump on the end of the couch. He smelt of gun oil and salt. He raised his head as Matt entered.

“I thought you’d still be out looking for me,” he said, his voice was flat and emotionless.

“I was,” said Matt, unable to keep the anger out of his. “Then Lukin paid Foggy and Karen a visit.”

Panic, pure panic, raced through Barnes. Red now shot through with orange and blue. Heartbeat racing, the rhythm of it all wrong, breathing suddenly shallow and Matt could hear the other mans stomach churn.

“They’re both okay,” said Matt quickly. “They’re both safe. I wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. Okay? They are safe. Lukin just wanted to talk. Then he left.”

Matt let Barnes process that information. Listening as his heartrate and breathing evened out. Once he was sure Barnes had calmed he threw his phone to Barnes who caught it with ease. “Call Foggy. He’s worried sick.”

Barnes stared at the phone like he didn’t know what to do with it. “Why?” he asked, nearly choking on the word.

Matt swallowed back the anger; he really wanted to hit something. “Because his _boyfriend_ ran off without a word and there’s a crazy Russian after him,” said Matt, unable to keep the bitterness out of the word ‘boyfriend’.

“No,” said Barnes shaking his head. “Why does he care? Why do any of you? Just hand me over to Lukin and all your problems are over, right? That’s what Lukin offered?”

“We don’t do that,” said Matt. 

“Makes you kinda stupid,” said Barnes sounding broken.

“Yeah, well. Guess we are,” agreed Matt. “But that’s us. Now,” he raised his voice. “Call. Foggy.”

Matt’s phone recognised the voice command and Barnes quickly raised it to his ear as it dialled. Matt could hear the ringtone if he concentrated.

“Murdock,” said Barnes before the phone connected. “You’re wrong. I’m not Foggy’s boyfriend. Pretty sure that’s you. It’s been you for a long time.”

Matt didn’t get chance to answer before Foggy picked up. “Matt! Are you okay?”

“He’s fine,” said Barnes.

“Jamie! Are you with Matt? Did he find you? Are you okay?”

Barnes heartbeat skipped and Matt could hear the smile in his voice. “Yes, I went to his apartment, and yes.”

“You asshole,” said Foggy, the audible relief belying his words. “You better be okay cus I’m going to kill you!”

Matt stopped himself from listening to anymore. He walked over to the fridge to get himself a beer. He drank it while leaning against the countertop. He was halfway down the bottle when Barnes came to join him. He placed the phone into Matt’s hand. Matt nodded in thanks and offered Barnes the beer bottle. Barnes took the bottle and leant next to Matt, drinking the rest of the beer in silence. 

“Where did you go?” asked Matt eventually.

“To kill Lukin,” replied Barnes. 

“Did you?” asked Matt. He was guessing not. He didn’t think Barnes would have come back if that had been the case.

“Tracked him to his hotel. But he wasn’t alone. Steve was there,” said Barnes tipping back his head to get the last of the beer. 

“Who’s Steve?” asked Matt, a little confused.

Barnes chuckled, placing the empty bottle on the counter. “Foggy didn’t tell you? Just an old friend.”

“You think he’s working with Lukin?” asked Matt.

Barnes heartrate spiked and his body temperature rose, but his voice was flat and cold. “No, never.”

“I’m going to try and get some sleep,” said Matt pushing himself away from the counter. “You can have the couch. Want some blankets?”

“Nah,” said Barnes. “I’m not sure sleep is a good idea for me right now. I’ll keep watch. Foggy’s going to bring Karen here in the morning. Something about a strategy meeting?”

“Yeah,” agreed Matt with a half smirk. He walked away from Barnes and continued talking. “We have something that might even resemble a plan if you don’t look too closely. You gonna stick around for it?”

Barnes didn’t reply but he didn’t leave either. It was nearly 4am, at this hour Matt was prepared to take that as a win.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt is out voted and Foggy makes a new... friend?

Matt woke to the smell of cooking bacon and eggs. That was a little strange as he didn’t remember having brought any bacon or eggs in a while. He pulled himself out of bed and padded into the main living area. Barnes was stood in the kitchen next to the cooker, Matt could hear his heartbeat, all wrapped up and around Foggy’s. Barnes’ heartbeat was as steady as ever, Foggy’s running a little fast. Slick sounds of kissing and Foggy’s cut of giggle. Matt couldn’t think of anything to say until he smelt that the bacon was about to burn.

“Bacon,” he said lightly. Foggy and his heartbeat jumped and he pulled away from Barnes. Barnes just calmly moved the pan off the stove. “You cook?” Matt asked Barnes instead of any of the other things that were swirling round his head.

“Why does everyone sound so surprised when they ask me that?” asked Barnes.

Foggy laughed. “Because me and Matt can’t be trusted to boil water. We live off cheap takeaway, Karen’s goodwill and care packages from my Mom.”

“I didn’t think I had bacon,” said Matt.

“I went to the store,” said Barnes. “Honestly why aren’t you two dead yet?”

Barnes dished up four plates worth of cooked breakfast, thankfully there was no more kissing. “Where’s Karen?” asked Matt.

“She’s talking on her phone in the hallway,” said Foggy, tucking into a fried egg and bacon sandwich. “Can’t you hear her?”

Matt listened for a second. “Yeah, she’s just finishing up.”

“She knows a guy who knew Ben Ulric. He owed Ben a big favour and Karen thinks he might be able to find Bradshaw,” explained Foggy.

“He’d be useful,” agreed Matt. “If he would testify that Lukin knew about the Hydra technology moving through LRE then we could start building a case.”

“Why would he do that?” asked Barnes.

Matt let a bit of the devil into his smile. “I can be persuasive.”

Foggy clapped his hands over his ears. “I can’t hear any of that!”

Matt was saved from having to reply by Karen sweeping in. She sat at the table next to Matt, a cloud of honeysuckle, printer ink, and burnt coffee. “So I know a guy, who knows a guy, who might know where Bradshaw crawled off to. Who’s the best secretary ever?”

“You are,” said Foggy with a grin. “So when we meeting this guy?”

Karen frowned and her heart skipped. “That’s the thing, he’ll only meet me on my own…”

“No way!” exclaimed Foggy at the exact same time as Matt.

“You can’t go on your own, Karen,” continued Matt. “None of us should.”

“He won’t talk if I go with someone else,” argued Karen stubbornly. “And it’s not like we have all the time in the world. Right now Lukin is waiting to see what we’re going to do. As soon as he decides to hell with it we’ll be through…”

“And you getting killed in a back alley somewhere helps us how?” asked Foggy.

“I’ll go with her,” said Barnes quietly. “I can make sure the guy doesn’t see me. I’m good at that.”

To say that Matt didn’t like that idea was an understatement. To trust Karen’s safety to the shell shocked ex-assassin didn’t seem like a good idea. Foggy’s breathing pattern changed, like he had something to say but didn’t know how to say it.

“There you go!” said Karen triumphantly. “We can go meet my contact. You two can go talk to Gerald Jones again. He’s still the last person to have contact with Lukin. Apart from us.”

“He seemed pretty tight with Lukin last time we spoke to him,” said Matt dubiously. “And I really don’t think he knows anything.”

“But he originally didn’t want to sell, maybe he’s had another change of heart? He’s worth talking to,” argued Karen.

“Karen,” said Foggy.

Karen cut him off. “You’d trust your life to Jamie, yeah?”

Foggy looked at Jamie, who was calmly eating toast. “Yeah, I would.”

And just like that it was decided. Matt wondered why he’d ever thought he had control over his own life.

**

In the end Foggy and Matt decided to take a page out of Karen and Jamie’s playbook. Matt went out as Daredevil, staying out of sight while Foggy went to see Jones. It would be useful to see if Lukin had put anyone on their trail, or if anyone else felt the need to follow them.

The meeting with Jones was less than useless. Foggy figured that Matt’s original thoughts were right. Lukin had just appealed to Jones’ greed. Jones didn’t know anything. Or was an excellent actor. Foggy left the meeting feeling hugely frustrated. He kept up a monologue under his breath as he walked. “I’m guessing you can hear this, yeah? I hope so, or I look like a crazy person for no reason. I’m also going to go ahead and assume you heard the conversation I had with Jones? Jeeze, that guy thinks Lukin hung the moon or something. I don’t think he’s going to be much help. I hope Karen and Jamie have more luck with Karen’s source. I don’t get why Jones had such a dramatic change of heart. Lukin must have been pretty persuasive, or just gave Jones like, all of the monies. I met Lukin and he just creeped me out. I mean even without knowing what he did to Jamie, and that he’s basically gun running for terrorists. What is it about Hell’s Kitchen that attracts these guys? I mean first Fisk, now Lukin? I’m babbling, sorry buddy. I guess I’m just frustrated.” Foggy didn’t notice the man walking behind him until he matched his stride to Foggy’s. Foggy sped up, and so did the man beside him. 

“Franklin Nelson?” asked the man. He was a good half a foot taller than Foggy and was ridiculously wide across his shoulders. (Seriously he was like a cartoon character.) 

Foggy kept his eyes down and kept walking as he answered. Matt was around somewhere right? Whoever this was Foggy wasn’t on his own here. “”Yep, that’s me. Who are you?”

“My names Steve Rogers,” said the man. “I don’t want to alarm you, but I think you’re being followed.”

“Yeah,” said Foggy. “By you.” Suddenly Foggy’s ears caught up with his brain and he stopped dead. “Wait _Steve Rogers_? As in Captain America?” He looked up into a stupidly handsome and earnest looking face.

“That’s me,” said Rogers looking almost embarrassed. “And I really think you should come with me. I think Daredevil has been following you since you left Mr Jones.”

Foggy knew he looked a little shocked, Rogers took that as a cue to reassure him.

“I’m sure he doesn’t mean you any harm, but no-one knows very much about him and I think it would probably be a good idea to keep you away from him until we know more about his motives,” said Rogers. His voice was very calm and soothing and totally put Foggy’s back up.

“You think Daredevil is a bad guy?” asked Foggy incredulously.

“I think the jury’s out,” said Rogers.

“Yeah well,” said Foggy pulling himself up to his full height (he’d never felt so short before). “I’m actually _from_ Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil is one of ours and he’s good.” He wondered if taking an almost instant dislike to Captain America made him a bad person.

Rogers held his hands up in defence. “Hey, how about I buy you a coffee, we passed a diner not long ago. I think you and I might be investigating the same thing.”

“Yeah,” said Foggy stubbornly. “What would that be?”

“I’d rather not talk about it in the open. Coffee?” he said gesturing to the diner behind them. His face was so open and hopeful; it would have taken a stronger person than Foggy to say no.

“Right,” said Foggy, raising his voice slightly. “I’m going to step into this diner with _Captain America_ I’ll be okay.”

Rogers looked confused. “Do you often narrate you own life?”

Foggy gave Rogers his best blank look. “Sure, don’t you?” 

Rogers found them a table near the back of the diner. He pulled out a little metal box and set it on the table.

“What’s that?” asked Foggy as it softly glowed blue.

“I don’t really understand it,” admitted Rogers. “Tony - Tony Stark - said it’s a white noise generator. Basically it means that anyone trying to listen in won’t be able to hear anything.”

“You think Daredevil is spying on us?” asked Foggy, trying to make the idea sound ludicrous with his tone. (Nope he’s not sat on the building opposite panicking because he can’t hear Foggy’s heartbeat anymore.)

Rogers smiled and shrugged. “Maybe not. But I certainly wouldn’t put it past Lukin’s people.”

Foggy conceded that one with a shrug.

“You’re investigating Lukin’s operation?” asked Rogers. 

“It’s part on an ongoing case, I can’t discuss it. Attorney client privilege,” said Foggy.

“Of course,” said Rogers easily. “But you should be careful, Lukin is a very dangerous man. “

“Captain Rogers…” started Foggy.

“Steve,” interrupted Rogers.

“Steve, look I get that you’re worried about me and you have that whole ‘hero’ shtick going on but me and my colleagues know what we’re doing.”

“Lukin is much more dangerous than you could possibly know,” said Steve. All earnest and sincere.

“Ex-KGB, allegedly the founder of the Red Room, allegedly strong links to Hydra,” said Foggy, a little sick of the implication he didn’t know what he was involved in.

Steve looked surprised, and Foggy chalked it up as a win. (Then felt bad that he was scoring points off Captain America.) “That’s good intel, care to tell me where you got it from?” 

“Attorney client privilege,” repeated Foggy.

“Lukin is looking for a man. A friend of mine. He thinks you know where he is,” said Steve, leaving the sentence hanging.

Foggy let the silence stretch out. He wasn’t going to volunteer any information. 

“James Barnes? He might be going by another name, he has a metal arm,” Rogers was fishing, and Foggy knew that Jamie didn’t feel ready for this right now.

“Nope, sorry,” he said.

Steve looked so crushed Foggy almost took it back. Then Rogers reached into his jacket and pulled out a photo. It was of Foggy and Jamie in Josie’s way back from the second time they met. He passed it over to Foggy. “I just want him to be safe. We got this from Lukin’s personal computer files. He knows. Can you keep Bucky safe?”

Big blue earnest eyes pinned Foggy in place. “He’s not ready to talk to you yet,” he said quietly. “I’m really sorry, but that’s his choice. I won’t take that away from him.” Foggy stared back at Captain America. “Do you understand that?”

“Lukin will take it from him, he’ll take everything” said Steve sadly. “My number is on the back. You can keep that. I’ll answer that phone whenever, 24/7.”

“Come outside with me,” said Foggy. Making a decision, he got up and left, Steve dropped some money on the table and followed. Foggy lead them down the street to a fairly quiet alley. “Hey, Daredevil,” he said not breaking eye contact with Steve. “Come down here willya?”

There was an audible thump and Matt landed on the fire escape above them. (Which meant Matt made the noise on purpose. Foggy’s dumbass ninja best friend.) Rogers looked up and there’s that look of surprise again. (Foggy feels a mean little joy at that. People always tend to underestimate him, most of the time he uses it to his advantage. But it’s nice to surprise people every now and again.)

“My firm has resources, Captain. We know what we are doing.”

“So I should trust you?” asked Rogers.

“We’re trusting you,” said Matt, his voice all Daredevil gravel and threat. “No-one knows about my links to Nelson and Murdock. I would like to keep it like that. For their safety.” With that he was gone out of sight again. (And yes, Foggy did hear the not so subtle rebuke in Matt’s words.)

“Just, tell him I asked about him?” asked Steve, shoulders slumped.

“Yeah, of course,” said Foggy as Steve turned and walked away. 

Foggy carried on walking towards his offices. Matt came out of a side alley dressed as himself a few blocks later. He took Foggy’s arm as if Foggy was leading him.

“Where’s the suit?” asked Foggy.

“I stashed it,” said Matt as if it was simple, his grip on Foggy’s arm tightened slightly. “I couldn’t hear you in the diner.”

“He had an anti-eavesdropping thingymabob,” explained Foggy. “He knows I know Jamie. He wants to find him.”

“Why does Captain America want him, something to do with Hydra?” asked Matt, with that stupid cute little wrinkle he gets between his eyebrows when he’s honestly confused.

“Wrong question,” said Foggy inwardly wincing. This isn’t really his secret to tell but Matt is going to work it out sooner or later anyway. “The question is ‘why would Steve Rogers want to find James Barnes?’”

The wrinkle deepened then suddenly evened out. “He said he saw ‘Steve’ with Lukin. That Steve was an old friend…”

Foggy snorted, “Yeah, about 90 odd years old…”

“Jamie is _Bucky Barnes_ ,” asked a shocked Matt.


End file.
